Summoning Solace a monthly feature by Agampreet Kalra A team is one. Inevitably succumbing the pains from different kinds of relationships, I recently realised a few things I would like to say. I don’t know if you will agree or not, but here is what I feel. Firstly, I felt that our relationships are more about ownership than partnerships. It’s more about having to feel who has the upper hand and who is who in what. I don’t understand the idea of it, since love is all about se

A Victorian Dollhousing Ceremony Requires Friends We have forgotten that we are magical, but all it takes to be is to remember. I tweeted this today, and it really sums up best the way I feel about my latest book project. Some book projects are releases of energy stored inside, toxic energy that needs to be let go. I’ve had plenty of those, and they are therapeutic in the way that they diffuse a situation that seems overwhelming painful in silence. Some book projects, thou

Messy Nest: Messy Kitchens Mean Metaphors Amy Alexander It’s Thanksgiving, the season of kitchens. I have long been obsessed with ovens, cauldrons, copper pots and pans and the room where women have traditionally been left alone and allowed to create. I have written several poems about both Betty Crocker and Typhoid Mary, and I love to be in the kitchen. Here’s something I try to tell everyone within a few weeks of meeting them: In 1998, I got the opportunity to interview Jul

Oh my God, u r Amazing. Thank you always for you. For all of your Selves - your Hells; If it indeed plays out that we can burn alive in more than one - Let it conflag around us for there is no other wound I'd prefer to endure Than the hot kiss of a Devil who rents us a room; Be it red-lit and ready for Rage; I say Fuck to Repenting. Our words are the aloe / our tongues the spit that can seduce a million demons in one lick - When God is ready for us, sound the alarm I'm still

Passed Notes & Poems a monthly feature by Kristin Garth TW: non-explicit discussion of a true crime of childhood sexual assault The Poem: ((*Listen here!*)) Five Cents would buy a notebook you must steal. Fifth grade charade of friendship you might feel apart of -- if you play a game. Woolworth’s glissade- burnt fingertips, small cardboard shame, singed, smarts, aflame, before some mechanic explains that he is FBI. That spiral book you did not buy has consequence — detain

A Novel Idea: Newlyweds Bring a Niche Philly-based Bookstore to the Lit Community Tianna G. Hansen // Rhythm & Bones Press with Christina Rosso & Alexander Schneider // A Novel Idea Christina Rosso & Alexander Schneider Tianna G. Hansen: First off, I must thank you both for allowing my small press to hold our first (and your first!) event at A Novel Idea. It’s so exciting to be able to know I’m in good hands and to launch such an important piece of work with you. So, let’s j

Eraser Marks a monthly feature by Robin Anna Smith "Painted On" - Multi-media, Smith, R.A. Palette We’re halfway through Fall and my mood and productivity are waning with the sunlight. I have so many things to do, yet instead I spend my time lying in bed, toggling between my current piece of writing and various websites, which are showcasing the new holiday makeup kits. Never mind the fact that I don’t need them and probably wouldn’t use them. They are colorful, shiny, and gl

Joined Journeys a bi-monthly feature by Maddie M. White Kristin Garth @lolaandjolie kristingarth.wordpress.com What mental illness do you suffer from? I suffer from depression and anxiety. Both of these are gifts of my genetics and upbringing. As a child I was abused, lived in a tense environment with two parents who are also abuse survivors and both suffer from depression. My anxiety and what a counselor once told me he believed to be abuse PTSD are products of living in,

Joined Journeys a bi-monthly feature by Maddie M. White Allison Haralson What mental illness do you suffer from? I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) when I was a sophomore in college. When was the first time you noticed it and how? I think I knew I “worried too much” or I was “too nervous” all the time as a child, but the first time I really, really noticed it was the beginning of my college career. As a sophomore in college, I had been in the same relatio