Never think about the past, whether glorious or tragic it always gives you pain Always determine only after knowing the repercussions, not by the emotions all those sinful traits I once had are now a meaningful delayed lesson Be wise in choosing your habits and friendsWhere both reveal who you are to the world It […]

Words from an old man.

I had to say goodbye,not because of what was saidbut because of the unsaid.Your words just never materialized,and words being as they are,the lifeblood of my being,I began to die from the lack of them.Long ago, I knew your words so intimately,but then they remained frozen,resting frigidly on the tip of your tongue.And even though […]

Truth be told

my right foot and I are on the outs again I keep telling it what I want it to do but sometimes it just sits there unresponsive it looks like my right foot it feels like my right foot but it’s as if it has forgotten what it means to be foot forgotten what it […]

Imposter

Read their stories in their eyes generation on generation on generation something passes down stories true formed and told shaped by those untrue the myths of girlhood myths of womanhood Fates set against fantasies and needs of men Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash Bob Wertzler is retired from nearly twenty years in the mental health field both […]

The Myths Of Girlhood – Robert G. Wertzler

I will not be silent. I will not be afraid. I will not sacrifice myself again, I will not turn the other cheek. I will speak the truth —not my truth, the truth— Not all things are subjective, Not all causes are just. I do not want to fight, But I swear on my sword […]

We Will Not Be Silenced – John W. Leys

girls talk about important things they plan their futures tell each other secrets they have best friends sometimes for life they listen to each other they write stories and poems they dream make blood oaths learn to trust or not they learn to obey or not they SEE everything they stay or run away they […]

The Myth of Girlhood – Georgiann Carlson

Her black onyx eyes were always rimmed red from crying? steam in the kitchen? sewing in poor light? I never knew, perhaps I didn’t know how to ask I knew her heart was sad even as her face smiled the lines carved into her skin like crosshatching she’d lost her girlhood to a man who […]

the myths of girlhood – Candice Louisa Daquin

We found a gap in the wire. Someone had made it, that gaping hole in the wire, hoping to climb through, hoping to head towards the light, to leave the darkness behind, to escape the madness here, hoping, hoping. But the light became too bright. And now it’s blinding us. We can see less than […]

We Will Not Be Silenced – Lynn White

Men believe they can control and silence women through violence and unjust laws but the bodies of dead women continue to  speak to us even when they can no longer form words of protest  even when their hearts are no longer beating even as their blood pools on filthy basement floors they speak this is what […]

We Will Not Be Silenced – Georgiann Carlson

I cannot be broken twice but life is doing its damn best to bend me fold me into painful sharp origami shapes   crane butterfly swan turtle frog dragon over and over deep creases form in my skin my muscles twist bones scream heart aches from compression soul cries mercy as I contort become unrecognizable fall […]

Origami