R.M. Carlson lead in my bellylead in my heartI sitin thoughts of you realizeI’m afraidof reaching outto you afraid your wordswill bring shamelike a cloudsettling over me did you cheer them on?with their flags and guns?did you laughat those forced to hide? or did shame humble youdisgust youbring you back to realityby their sedition? if… Continue reading

Nicole Sara Black moments bite, they take their shareand leave a sorrowful markBlack moments burn, feeding on air,with flames shaping the dark Black moments blow like fierce winds moaning,unleashing ice through the days…Black moments beat an unyielding tempostifling the magical rays Black moments breathe through smiles and light,turning our eyes from the sunBlack moments breaking… Continue reading

Eileen ‘ike’ West Macrocosm a mess?I micro-dose my close community of loved ones.Distressed for too long, I shut out the shouting, hole up,then scribble and post old-fashioned snail-mail.I grow calm through the writing.Others, too—I’m told—in the reading. Dear friends, I’m finally unpackingthe last boxes and bags,Planting a flag on the mountainside,I mark entry to my… Continue reading

Melissa Lemay maybe i’ve been wrong all this timethe cat lying in the pile of dirty laundryhas it all figured out every time a monarch butterflyflutters by, i breathe in a little magic seeing shapes in clouds remindingme of simpler dayswhy am i awake? i ask myself the years of hurting i have masteredi haven’t… Continue reading

Meghan Woodward Sugared tongue to coverthe bleak words, glancesenough sour candy and nowI’m numb to the walls movingin and my heart moving out; Salted lips savoring sadnessthe cruelty, harsh realitycuddled chip stacks snuggleloneliness, spooning mygrowing ass and dwindling will; Chocolate dripped fingers frozen,the destruction, brutalitydarkened truffles replacepleasure, sensationcoating me with love no longer here. Meghan… Continue reading

Kim Whysall-Hammond We learnt that sleep is negotiablebut the siren wail of a newborn is not We learnt that there is no replacementno salve for grief, just life lived on But that there is salvation in a gurglehope in a well soiled nappy Wonder in breastfeedingjoy in Dad’s skinwarmed bottle Glory in so-soon brown eyesin… Continue reading

Phoebe Shade She is a splash of watercolorsdancing across the canvas of spring. Floating like a featheron a warm breeze,she drifts down,lands on my hand. She rests,then lets go. Carried again by the breeze,she finds youand lifts one tiny wingto wave hello—the way ladybugsoften do. Phoebe Shade is a 12-year-old artist based in Austin, Texas,… Continue reading

Nick Allison If I’d known what was comingI might have stayed drunk—wrapped in the amber hushwhere edges blurand headlines dissolve like salt. Three years on,thoughts scatter like pigeonswhen I move too fast toward them.If I leave them alonethey circle,then vanish into sky. Maybe free will is only a rumor.Still, I can choosewhich rumor to follow,which… Continue reading

Isabelle Luebke Flower shimmeringwith raindropsand sun— beauty has cometo this world. Nine-year-old Isabelle Luebke lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and spends time equally with her dad, Brandon Luebke, and her mom, Rachel Armes-McLaughlin, who is co-editor on this book. Isabelle likes to draw, play with her many cats and dogs (and one fish), help her… Continue reading

Rachel Armes-McLaughlin I relish in the eveningslike this, when after a busyand not always easyday, we come homeand the neighborhoodkittens have come outto play – we go chirp at them,then head toward ourfront door, but before we can even reach itwe smell the stew –like a warm auraaround our home –that we put onhours before.… Continue reading