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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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Seeing Sylvia At The Nursing Home
By John Kaniecki — The perpetually empty soap dispenser stands like a solitary somber sentinel seeking with what it cannot provide. I wave
Mar 18
Into a Morning Yawn
By Glenn Marchand — I was a child when it struck—through darkness, benighted, lights seemed dim, love wasn’t ideal. Maybe grateful for
Mar 10
The Love of Words
By Leslie Fiering — You loved words. You loved reading them, writing them or using them to teach. Whether you passed that love on to me
Jan 28
LESSONS TAUGHT
By Galya Bacheva — Through the haze of my memory, I see bunches of them. Five girls, two boys, another three in the corner. Day in, day out,
Dec 21, 2024
Barns End
By Rick Bailey — I’ve got barns on my mind. I’m driving across Illinois on 88 West. This is corn country. On this bright sunny afternoon,
Nov 8, 2024
THE CULTURE OF PEACE
By Dr. Ashok Chakravarthy Tholana — Discrimination and intolerance cannot strengthen peace. They are enemies for destabilizing the culture
Oct 23, 2024
Wisconsin Passages
By Darrell Petska — Like reclining bodies these Baraboo hills lie, where Sauk and Ho-Chunk, Fox and Kickapoo tribes weaved earth and
Aug 8, 2024
Today, at 70
By Lee Ann Stevens — I am grateful for my parents. Sane, steady, able to let go. I am grateful for the body I was born in. Healthy.
Jul 29, 2024
The Man in the Blue Cadillac
By Wayne Russell — It was just a short walk, about half a mile, but I was only five and the distance seemed much further. Out of nowhere
Apr 19, 2024
For Dad
By Taylor Kemp — There will come a time when my dad is no longer on this Earth. He will no longer be there to calm my anxieties, give me his
Feb 14, 2024
My cat Baloo
By Laura Schaefer — I never knew how to love until you taught me with every sandpaper kiss on my cheek. I feel like my whole world is
Nov 25, 2023
Safety and Home
By Mary Bone — We are staying safe in a world of chaos ,seeking justice on a daily basis. Supporting each other helps us heal. It is great
Nov 5, 2023
Bilingual
By Deborah Diemont — To float between expressions, hummingbirds beat manic verses, testing sentences, parents' dreams. Carnival gunpowder
Jun 30, 2023
The night will be for day dreamers
By Brian Michael Barbeito — A band I never saw, not w/my eyes anyhow. I was sitting at the top of a large ship, a ship that was around seven
Jun 24, 2023
Catching Up with Millie
By Alex Carrigan — I didn’t cry when I heard you had passed away. I wouldn’t until three months later when we placed
your urn in the ground
May 13, 2023
WHERE DOES WATER COME FROM?
By Angela Ezekiel — At this bank with hasty plopping water came a walking thought into a little mind, where life
is jolly and play, a world
Apr 6, 2023
AGAVE
By John Grey — I am grateful that a country puts on an unconscious show for me. What if my coffee drinker shouts to me, "Yankees in five"
Feb 18, 2023
On reaching old age
By Colin Ian Jeffery — Time is fleeting in its passing and does jolt the memory,
recalling images of long ago when life seemed to stretch
Jan 9, 2023
The Setting Sun
By Rupsingh Bhandari — Cold breezes inaugurate their evening rally. Shadows gather to incubate night. The sun withdraws its light. Blankets
Dec 1, 2022
Grandma Lives With Dead People
By Susan M. Vilardo — Grandma could weave magic with her words. One minute we were all outside with smeared PBJ faces and the next minute we
Nov 19, 2022
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