Woman is a Root – Molly M. Ryan

Touch does not sit in the veins of a petal, Does not wilt when the bloom of spring Withers away. It can’t be pruned, It does not decompose with the dead and discarded To become a new whole. Woman is not a flower. A flower Is only beautiful for the season. Groomed, Clipped, arranged, until …

I Believe You. – Susan M. Conway

I Believe You. When you say there are ghosts, when you say you've seen them. I have too, so we aren't much too different, you and I. When you said goodbye to a living person you'd die for is the cruelest fate. When you say it is easier to hate… I believe you. I've had …

Speak – Rachael Ikins

The time I whispered with shame to my parents 3 years after the fact, that my high school Spanish teacher molested me, my mom said “Oh, don’t tell anyone.” That night, school Open House. My dad shrugging rumples of raincoat over his suit, a jerky adrenaline rush, said,  “I’m going up there to punch her …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Red – Nikki Marrone

Sometimes I leave the blood on my skin, To remember that red is not the colour of violence. And that I am not a victim waiting to happen. This space between my legs is not a crime scene. Red is not a blood stained sidewalk, It is not the cut of a prostitute’s gown, Sometimes …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: I have been broken many times before – Tianna G. Hansen

I am not fragile, but I have been broken many times before. I have shattered in a million pieces un-fix-able, yet still risen from the debris, rubble pile of disgrace and shame, silenced to keep the truth from bubbling out of my lips like acid, spat in faces of my attackers, those who have instilled …

There is Strength in Our Stories: Market Penetration – Tamara Fricke

Selling old wares in a new bar he saunters towards a woman sitting alone. She refuses to acknowledge the approach to his buddies he proclaims, “She’s a dyke.” Her lover returns and takes her hand as she kisses red satin. Jack-of-all-trades, master of a few, Tamara resides in Springfield, MA with a rather ungrateful cat.

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Concealed – aj forrester

Dry grass taller than me, color of my naked skin, waves in the wind, slices like razors on my limbs scarred from climbing the camphor trees trembling, lying helpless on a bed of dirt and mud, briars peppering my ankles sting, leaving tiny drops of blood like no see ums grass like bars of a …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: You Stole Nothing – Taylor Warner

There’s a few things I’d like to know As I seem to have missed something Since when does opening your apartment door Mean opening your legs? Since when does comforting someone Mean they can make themselves comfortable Inside of you? As if my body has a doormat that reads: Permission to Enter I want to …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Crushed Petals – Kelly Glover

Women are silent flowers Prettiest when quiet We do not wilt When they crush our petals Strip our leaves Our divine feminine roots Remain and regenerate Exquisite thorns sharpen We are walking targets With bullseye breasts Shot with shame From the moment of fertility The blood of life Natural as breath Yet taboo table talk …

There Is Strength in Our Stories: Phoenix – Nikki Marrone

I was told to wait, For a man to come my way. The one who would wear the crown, And ride the golden mare. Whose stare would have me enamoured for a lifetime. A man so great I would prostrate myself on an altar of “love.” Devote myself to deities of death and destruction. Find …