There Is Strength in Our Stories: walk these streets at night and know the truth – Evelyn Benvie

load your lipstick in a gatling gun to get ready for the night the sidewalk cracks are too wide for stilettos and too deep for anything else wear fishnets to trawl the river, sift and dredge the filth at the bottom and the scum at the top and you, panting as you run seeking shelter …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: The Gift- aj forrester

  Like a raft I float on vicious waves with what you gave; you stole. Made me less made me more. You gave confusion and shame. Blame. The gift remains: in me, I found strength. Like fire hardens steel, nightmares burn my heart, my brain. I strain; I’d give it back, though, if I could; …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Rubber Gloves – Taylor Warner

Today I stumbled over a page in my journal that read: “One day I will write about your rubber gloves And how each time they entered me They delivered desperate hope And how every time they exited me They took with them a piece of my soul I thought I’d never get back.” Well, here …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Double Dip – kkc

I told old man in the white uniform with cherry stains on it that I didn't want his flavor he was about to scoop. So he scooped it anyway. His words to me were " little girl, you will taste what I dish out" Shoved cone in my face Salty tears slid down landing on …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: 37: perpetual victim – Katharine Love

be quiet. be quiet. i told you – be quiet! you are weird. you are ugly. you are strange. be normal. be pretty. be happy. always be nice. always say thank- you, even if you aren’t grateful, especially if you aren’t grateful. take it - you deserve it - you are a feral thing. don’t …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: s.k.

somewhat lost. burying pain in shallow graves within my heart; temporary people/permanent places. this is my punishment for being soft.

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Poem for RJ – Bina Ruchi Perino

You smile, emerald pepper in hand, and you shrink me into a single consonant, a controlled identity, the Beta. B — her throat is the steel kettle on your electric stovetop, simmering and boiling and compressed — she is trapped in a Stockholm prison, where you peel apart her threads. July is a blister, a …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: bewitching hour – Tianna G. Hansen

after Effy Winter Tonight you plant a curse. Find the recipe from a love witch  —  black garden curse jar. Place your wounds inside, direct pain on the one who birthed it. A relief spell, enchantment of the heart capturing sorrows, stabbing like knives through the veins of the one who caused your ache. Mix …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Thin Ice – Tamara Fricke

i. Cracking ice twists and sickens at an intrinsic level as though cells know hypothermic pain. ii. The time when I said no and he said yes and I changed my tune because fear is intrinsic. iii. A sheet of ice covers the snow creating a satisfying crunch with each wintered step. iv. The satisfying …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: a night that didn’t wash away – Linda M. Crate

i remember that rainy saturday night well will never forget your sister was supposed to be watching us, however, she was rather absent from where we were; i remember how you forced your lips against mine in a kiss although i protested no you didn’t listen— never understood why my voice didn’t matter how you …