Life’s a Play

I felt happy that day, and beautiful, truly beautiful. The right side of the bed followed me everywhere that morning; my teeth were extra sparkly and my eyes matched. I rejoiced in feeling not a single shred of anxiety, of guilt, of self-loathing. I was beautiful and intelligent and kind, the world smiled at me …

What Comes and Goes

by Cat Coule Love what comes.  When you are in the darkness and snakes crawl through open holes in your body and spiders walk up your spine with their babies on their back.  Love what comes. When you are in the light and butterflies drink from the nectar of your hair and kittens make a …

Moments

by Connor Kreger I love myself so much   I don’t need anyone else to love me   but sometimes I have more love than I need   It’s these moments I wish I had someone else to love too

After Franz Wright

by Brian Riggins You’ve seen the movie before. A kid barely manages to catch a bus. He’s leaving home. Or maybe he’s finally going home. Other popular destinations include “somewhere” and “anywhere but here.” Soybeans press up against the highway. It’s impossible to measure progress unless the Greyhound approaches a pothole or a mile marker. …

The House I Built

by Austin Sanniota Edwards When you’re small, old, and fragile but surrounded by big, new, and sturdy, it’s easy to feel forgotten and unworthy.  But can you believe your bold, wooden door, and the hand-chiseled designs in your arches? Even the wrinkles in your brow and chips in the gold paint make you stand out from …

A Work in Progress

by Bridget Conway I've never been particularly good at practicing self-love. Actually, if I'm honest with myself, I've never even been good at self-“like”. Since I was seventeen, I've struggled with chronic depression. I suffer from obsessive negative thought spirals, in which either: (a) my mind generates the worst-case scenario for any given situation and …

Pursuit of Happiness

by Dan Puzzo Writing about self-encouragement and the pursuit of happiness was something I felt ill-equipped to do. After all, I am by no means a happy-go-lucky person. In fact it’s quite the opposite; I’ve wrestled with depression and, increasingly, anxiety for most of my life. Surely I wouldn’t be the one to consult about …

Guaranteed Age

by Jeff Fleischer It seemed like such a great concept the first time Rodney heard it. Guaranteed age. Walking through a maze of copper pot stills, the guide on the distillery tour explained how the fermented mash boiling all around them would need to age three years in an oak barrel before ever being sampled …

Gathering Mushrooms

by Julie Ahern The forecast said a blizzard was coming, the storm of the century, so he knew today would be his last chance. The alarm was set for 3:00, but he really didn’t need it; years of working in construction, getting up to be on site before sun-up had him trained. He slid out …

Assemblages

by Charise Joy Javonillo 5 years ago I stopped myself from going to an archaeological field school in Peru because I feared I would have a complete nervous breakdown in the Andes. Excavating in a foreign country while every part of my body trembled from obsessive thoughts and unfounded fears spelled imminent disaster. Instead of …