September - 2018

Rhythm & Bones

Rhythm & Bones

Writing as the solace it is

Writing as the solace it is

SUMMONING SOLACE a feature by Agampreet Kalra Writing as the solace it is Writing. Well writing for one is the most beautiful thing in the world. Now if you’re a non-writer you may oppose and consider it to be quite a nerve-reckoning and frustrating thing, which is exactly what it is for a frequent writer, but with obsession included, it is the wildest safe haven you can ever reside in. Writing is hard, it can be strenuous and it can be ballistic but it is one of the most ex

Red Poems Speak the Truth Behind Breast Cancer’s Pink

Red Poems Speak the Truth Behind Breast Cancer’s Pink

Red Poems Speak the Truth Behind Breast Cancer’s Pink by Amy Alexander We are approaching October, the pink month. Pink for breast cancer survivors. It’s a particularly poignant time for me, because I lost my own mother to breast cancer on July 6, 2015. My relationship with breast cancer goes back longer, though, to the time when my mother was first diagnosed, in 2002. She lived with the disease for 13 years until it spread to her abdomen in 2014. Since she got her diagnosis,

Anger: A Necessary Fire

Anger: A Necessary Fire

Anger: A Necessary Fire "You need to let go of your anger," my mother tells me. "You'll never be able to move on with your life. Just forget about it." It was January and I was begging my mother for what felt like the hundredth time in my life to divorce my father. It is September now and their divorce is nearly finalized, but my mother continues to tell me the same thing. "Hate is poisonous. It's a heavy thing to hold onto. Your father is not a bad person." Growing up, I wat

YOU ARE NOT YOUR R*** (Anthology)

YOU ARE NOT YOUR R*** (Anthology)

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, AND ON OUR WEBSITE! Proceeds benefit RAINN, Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), and other nonprofit organizations focused on helping victims & survivors of sexual abuse, assault & trauma. In the News (December 2018): We have a feature in Philadelphia Weekly! The story of how this anthology came to be: In a time where the news tells tales of accused rape and those who speak out are ridiculed, sent death threats, shamed, made to feel un

Rhythm of the Bones: DARK MARROW

Rhythm of the Bones: DARK MARROW

NEW ENDEAVOR: Rhythm of the Bones: Dark Marrow Featuring your twisted visions and nightmares, your traumas you can't shake, the ghosts that haunt your daydreams. Due to the high volume of wonderful poetry submissions we have received, the founder of Rhythm & Bones decided to begin a new endeavor, a separate poetry mag called Rhythm of the Bones - Dark Marrow. Tianna recruited the wonderful Paul S. Rowe as her Poetry Editor to help decide and create this newest addition to R&B

18 and Elavil

18 and Elavil

Passed Notes & Poems a feature by Kristin Garth Poem: 18 & Elavil prescribed post-sexual assault & then perpetually dreamlife/death — no glow, opalescent, of arms around a thin almost-a-virgin neck & you-don’t-know- if-he-will-kill-you-in-this-desert strange man you met inside a van, a camping trip reforesting protected land. That hand misunderstanding while you slept now rips through lips, its mate around your neck so tight. You’re limp & wet in places he’ll dissect

Eraser Marks

Eraser Marks

"Scoliosis Corset" - Altered photo art - Smith, R.A. (2018) eraser marks you prattle at me about my curves. ignorant of what’s beneath. this dress. this flesh. this skull. you judge the earth by its terrain. weekend warrior. mentally impotent. worship the idol of your groin. spinal cord tethered to bone. vertebrae curved into a soft s shape. my scaffolding— a rigid-plastic-braced erection. your eyes at the crest. thoughts in the gorge. i am not a conquest designed for you. fu

Craters, Crevices and Creativity

Craters, Crevices and Creativity

Craters, Crevices & Creativity by Monica Kagan Welcome to my column called "Craters, Crevices and Creativity"! I will be looking at the interaction between my depression, anxiety and the impulse to keep creating. It is a complicated relationship, which I will start to explore in this column. Although my column is focused on writing, I think that this can apply to any of the creative arts. The words "contributing writer" feel so unfamiliar to me, but what an amazing feeling! J

Fear Stirring in My Chest

Fear Stirring in My Chest

Fear Stirring in My Chest Maddie M. White What mental illness do you suffer from? I have suffered with Anxiety, Panic Disorder, and Depression. When was the first time you noticed it and how? I can always remember being anxious as a child. I had a hard time being away from my parents especially after experiencing the death of my papaw. I had a fear that everyone around me was dying. For several years I spent Sundays in tears, and I couldn’t figure out why. I did have a few ye