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THEMES by PROMPT
We publish writing using a series of prompts as an entry point for exploring emotions, personal histories, shared truths, joy, grief, shame, and those themes that matter most to us in our hearts.
Explore the themes by prompt below:
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Apr 16, 2022
My Closet, Your Shame
By Maia Michelle Raven — She stared at the screen. She turned around and slapped me. Whack. She slapped me again. My face is burning. I run
Mar 23, 2022
First Dance
By John L Swainston — Remembered what my grandfather had told me: “Want a girlfriend, make the loneliest girl happy.” Walked up to her,
Feb 24, 2022
Ask Me
By Britta Benson — The spray, the spit,
the grit of determination. These are the paperweights keeping the world in her place.
Add the fickl
Feb 6, 2022
One Hour Photo
By Gale Acuff — One day when I'm dead I'm supposed to come to life again, I think I'll be in my grave, my soul with my body, if I have one,
Dec 30, 2021
Someplace
By Moriah Hampton — I want to lead
you there, find you there, follow you there, someplace, where I feel safe and you feel safe, where I
Dec 1, 2021
She Could Be Me
By Phyllis Rittner — Both my parents had dementia. I lie awake nights convinced I have the gene. I work with folks in their eighties and
Nov 4, 2021
Why am I a 28 year old Virgin?
By Aaron Curry — Ask me. Why am I a 28 year old virgin? Growing up in an area that's promiscuous and urban. Why, for the most part, have I
Oct 19, 2021
Ask Me Your Fortune, If You Dare!
By Anita Nahal — Lentil or meat in a steaming hot pot. Reeked heavy and was badly sought. Remnants of birds in the ladle. Ramifications
Sep 16, 2021
The Origins of Creative Endeavours
By Todd Sullivan — I end every Zoom interview the same way. “Before we go, do you have any final questions?” I've interviewed some 90
Sep 3, 2021
Through the Evening Fog
By Yuna Kang — It is hard enough to love you, harder still to remember you.
I scribble down the final pulses of trauma you gave me, hoping
Aug 23, 2021
Sparrows, Daddy
By Kunal Mehra — You may never read this letter, my unborn son, but I still want to write it. You were never expressed. You never came to
Aug 18, 2021
Walking Stories
By Kahlil Crawford — I initially wrote because I was enamored with the idea of poetry and later hip-hop. However, my first meaningful
May 24, 2021
Paper Birds
By Theresa Gaynord — What if George Floyd’s memories hadn’t faded? What if kindness shut out the clouds? What if
sunshine fell upon the lid
Apr 5, 2021
Ask Me About My Narcoleptic Daydreams
By Reyna N. Vasquez Bisono — My narcolepsy makes me crave sleep, but the world makes me embrace it. Why face your problems, when you can
Feb 11, 2021
Let's Start Here
By Thomas Elson — He saw his daughter decades later, when she - now a grandmother was asked the same question and emerged as the woman who
Jan 2, 2021
Overdue
By Anne Mikusinski — All my borrowed books have had their dates advanced again,
affording me more time to get to know the people who
Oct 21, 2020
Down the River
By Lynne Mathews Abensohn — There’s a river that runs deep through my mind. When I was a kid growing up in Rhode Island, the river was just
Sep 26, 2020
A Poem for Breonna Taylor (June 5, 1993--March 13, 2020)
By Celucien Joseph — "Battle Ground in the ‘Gateway to the South': A Poem for Breonna Taylor" (June 5, 1993--March 13, 2020)
Sep 16, 2020
Flash
By Allan Lake — Better to wake up a few moments before death, even to discover yourself astride a lame donkey with a silly name.
Sep 11, 2020
BOOKSORE
By Noelle Sterne — I should have been happy, or at least grateful. My family had gathered cozily around the Christmas tree,
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