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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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"Parental Guidance"
By Ty'ona Crocker — You praised me for good grades because that’s all you knew. Never once did you realize what I was going through.
Oct 21, 2023
Kalawati
By Bharti Bansal — Women change the world by changing other women, motivating them, creating a path for them through their own struggles.
Sep 22, 2023
Freedman Village of the Dead
By Mark Blickley — A dozen years ago, I visited Arlington National Cemetery for the first (and only) time. As a reluctant participant in the
Jul 30, 2023
An Outburst from a Desperate Soul
By Caroline Reddy — I looked like a boy. I was thirteen years old when father’s words—suffocated my embryo. In your absence the summer
Jul 13, 2023
Approaching the Stairs
By Patricia McTiernan — At the time, I didn’t think of it as an assault. But I did wonder if it would have happened if I took the bus. I was
Jun 15, 2023
Solo Performance
By Susan Vilardo — One more day of renewed vigor. The aging woman embraces her bird morning songs, her bird morning songs. No hearing aid
Jun 11, 2023
Runaway
By David J. Bookbinder — I still remember that day, many years ago. That was the day I realized I couldn’t go on like a ghost in my own
Jun 1, 2023
In the Bathtub
By Madge Kaplan — Props of soap and shampoo bottles fly, then bob among rubber ducks and little toes. Accusations, repercussions, slamming
May 28, 2023
We had Yaks
By Bhuwan Thapaliya — A priest’s son had an eye on my sister. He enticed her with his oratorical skills. They got married. My mother
May 24, 2023
Spilling over the garden gate
By Linda M. Crate — When I was young, I used to laugh loudly, speak loudly, and I remember spilling over the garden gate like a wild rose.
May 10, 2023
VAN GOGH'S ROAD
By Syka Wryts — The dancing howling wind swings through. Through the naked crooked branches. A tree standing on one's jack in the midnight
Apr 20, 2023
The Burlington Northern Railroad
By Zary Fekete — If I had taken a turn earlier, I might have beaten it. As it was, the moment I took the right at the intersection, I could
Mar 4, 2023
Rebars
By Martin Schwarz — A vortex descends on me of shrapnel and hopelessness. Yet a hunger in my spine hauls me from the afterlife. Born in hail
Dec 12, 2022
We Didn’t See It Coming
By Diann Logan — When I was Sweet 16, one computer was bigger than any of the classrooms I spent my days in. High School guidance counselors
Dec 3, 2022
Depression
By Angélica Vélez-Giraldo — Isolation is my friend; it caresses every inch of me. Tightening ever so slowly, when it feels like it'll be the
Nov 7, 2022
The Pain of the Living
By Troy A. Johnson — Relentless was time, it left me beaten and bruised. Memories ran rampant through my mind. They left holes where self
Oct 31, 2022
Dare To Be Brave
By Andrew Scott — She stretches her leg, staring at the scare given to her only a few months before. It starts above the knee, in the back
Oct 23, 2022
Spatterdock
By Sharon O. Blumberg — Enchanted yellow lilies with sun-bright centers attached to long stems rested on the surface of the pond, as if
Sep 18, 2022
I do not live in a City
By Dennis Williams — I don’t know traffic jams. Vehicles traverse my streets intermittently, miles apart, never a risk to children playing
Sep 10, 2022
PLATTERS OF DECEITS
By Abdulmueed Balogun — My body gets fatigued easily, and even more
my soul. but to whose ears do I narrate my haunting woes? Everyone is
Aug 31, 2022
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