At the sound of a motorcycle roaring, Laura Hapley moves the curtain aside and looks out the window. Instead of passing by, the machine stops. A tall person dressed all in black swings their legs off and gently places their helmet on the seat. The light of the setting late September sun surrounds the apparition… Continue reading When The Doorbell Rings by Isabella Mori
Month: August 2019
The Catatonic Angel By Mark Tulin
“Today’s topic is relationships,” I announced to the group of ten or so patients at the Bright Haven Psychiatric Center. They were either sleeping or talking among themselves. Very few had enough focus to be able to look at me directly. But they would all respond when I asked them a question. “Does anyone have… Continue reading The Catatonic Angel By Mark Tulin
An Unsung Warrior by Nabanita Sengupta
All stories are not dramatic. Some, in fact quite a number of them, arise out of simple day to day life and situations that force a noble heart to take up an uncharted course. We sing paeans to the heroes under the limelight and forget the ones closer to us, quietly leading a life in no… Continue reading An Unsung Warrior by Nabanita Sengupta
An Entry into Insecure Attachment by Suzanna Birdway
Mother did not know she was pregnant with me until I crowned in the car as Father rushed her to the hospital. It was a family secret until her confession to my sister Bridget, several years before she died. Bridget kept it from me until after she was gone. Mother did what her mother… Continue reading An Entry into Insecure Attachment by Suzanna Birdway
Safe Harbor by Kitta MacPherson
The building roars and rumbles as the school’s “Group” period ends. Hundreds of teenage boys stream out of classrooms and into hallways, pushing, taunting, humming, poking, laughing, chatting. Brother Asiel and I are salmons swimming against the hallway’s tide. As the teenage boys of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in… Continue reading Safe Harbor by Kitta MacPherson
Watch the Gap by Lance Manion
There are not a great number of things I enjoy more than riding on a train. Sitting there in comfort, being silently whisked through rural (think pastoral,) subuarban (think strip malls) and urban (think post-apocalyptic) scenes, is second only to a good haircut from a busty barber (think Holly Peers) on my list… Continue reading Watch the Gap by Lance Manion
Early Bird by Eve Lyons
Joseph came here every morning, but he had never seen the hawk. Other clients had told him about it, but he had never seen it for himself. He was smoking a cigarette, waiting for his weekly therapist’s appointment, when something big and brown swooped down over his head and snatched a baby squirrel… Continue reading Early Bird by Eve Lyons
Poems by Linda M. Crate’
Both the Dream and Nightmare My uncle’s suicide opened my eyes which made me realize I did not really want to die, I just wanted the pain inside carved out; did not want to feel such a tempest of rage and sadness— I feel everything so deeply this intensity sometimes scares me, but it is… Continue reading Poems by Linda M. Crate’
Poems by Denise Sedman
Under the Influence of Depression: Group Meetings We signed a confidentiality agreement, so, if you think you know us you really don’t! Regulating, medicating, and suffocating You said, “I’m depressed.” How depressed are you? “I am so depressed I cannot go one minute without saying I’m depressed.” Climb out of your… Continue reading Poems by Denise Sedman
Poems by Kara Goughnour
Pumpkin Carving My lover looks expectant, I think he should throw out the knife stowed in the wastebasket, broken over pumpkin carving. I wonder if pulling orange seeds is like pulling intestines from split-skin stomach– blades stuck in dirt to fall on, shaking in haunted playgrounds where we went for… Continue reading Poems by Kara Goughnour