SOCIAL ISSUES 3/10

My 3-year-old Draws a Family Portrait, a Poem by Kuo Zhang

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Mar 1, 20241 min read

My 3-year-old Draws a Family Portrait, a Poem by Kuo Zhang

We ALL look so alien, just as what we’re called on the official documents.

How Much Vengeance Is Enough? a Poem by Mark D. Stucky

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Feb 23, 20241 min read

How Much Vengeance Is Enough? a Poem by Mark D. Stucky

Can we exit this interlocked sequence of oppression and reflexive violence?

Becoming Untouchable, a Prose Poem by Marcia W. Mount Shoop

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Feb 16, 20241 min read

Becoming Untouchable, a Prose Poem by Marcia W. Mount Shoop

Becoming untouchable takes time. Start young. Instill quiet oppression. Reinforce the stakes, ignore the quakes, the terror. Regular...

Where There’s Smoke, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

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Feb 9, 20241 min read

Where There’s Smoke, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

A sky bathed in haze veils the prairies, bringing another day of whitish-grey over corn and soybeans and the skyscrapers of Chicago.

She Lifts Her Burka, a Prose Poem by Alicia Viguer-Espert

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Feb 2, 20242 min read

She Lifts Her Burka, a Prose Poem by Alicia Viguer-Espert

This woman who shows me her lovely fifteen-year-old face, polished nails bright red, and the green eyes of a 1985 National Geographic cover.

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Jan 26, 20241 min read

Hallowed Ground, a Poem by Pat Anthony

Today a smoky haze hangs over the trees drapes the fields Wildfires from Canada dropping down on the wind and I think again of Maui...

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Jan 19, 20241 min read

The Owl, a Poem by Tasneem Hossain

I sit on the trees in the middle of the nights, Looking at the stars and northern lights. I see in the dark, the reality of life;

Whys and Wherefores, a Short Story by William Cass

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Jan 5, 20248 min read

Whys and Wherefores, a Short Story by William Cass

Luis had been a patient of mine for less than a year. He’d been referred to me by his primary care physician on the south side of San...

Without Works, a Poem by Scott Thomas Outlar

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Dec 8, 20231 min read

Without Works, a Poem by Scott Thomas Outlar

Parading in front of cameras and complaining incessantly about the world’s problems without offering any solutions of your own is about...

Journey into Winter, a Poem by Peter Kaczmarczyk

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Dec 1, 20231 min read

Journey into Winter, a Poem by Peter Kaczmarczyk

Journey into winter in a mother’s eyes Sun shines through, fleeting moments A lucid smile breaks the clouds Reminders of her summer life...

In My Room’s Solitude, a Poem by Sofiul Azam

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Nov 24, 20232 min read

In My Room’s Solitude, a Poem by Sofiul Azam

What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power can easily destroy. – Salman Rushdie I don’t need your praise...

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Nov 17, 20232 min read

Stranded, a Poem by Carolyn Martin

Afghanistan’s Kyrgyz nomads survive in one of the most remote, high-altitude, bewitching landscapes on Earth. It’s a heavenly life – and...

Quarantine Song, a Poem by Jackson Dammann

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Nov 10, 20231 min read

Quarantine Song, a Poem by Jackson Dammann

Isolation speaks our fragility to the shadows lurking in the ruins of us, saying they’re weak alone they shatter, alone they’re just...

МОЇ ЖІНКИ / My Women, Prose by Yuliia Iliukha, translated into English by Hanna Leliv

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Nov 3, 20233 min read

МОЇ ЖІНКИ / My Women, Prose by Yuliia Iliukha, translated into English by Hanna Leliv

жінка, яку окупували у власному домі, перетворилася на страх. вона боялася, що її здасть сусідка навпроти. кілька років тому вони аж до...

The Cost of a Human Life, a Poem by Michael Shoemaker

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Oct 27, 20231 min read

The Cost of a Human Life, a Poem by Michael Shoemaker

I sat as an observer in a state’s superior court. First-degree murder was the charge. Cold-blooded calculated murder was the act. One...

Debra Ayis

Oct 17, 20231 min read

Jaded, a Poem by Debra Ayis

I am Jaded The pretense, treachery, Deception and lies Dark unyielding hearts controlled by hate I am hardened The wars, the conflict...

Your Own Heart, a Poem by Peter Kaczmarczyk

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Oct 13, 20231 min read

Your Own Heart, a Poem by Peter Kaczmarczyk

I grew up thinking My suburban life Filled with liberal minds And high-minded rhetoric Had taught me all I needed to know But you cannot...

After Coming Out of the Cocoon, a Poem by Sofiul Azam

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Oct 6, 20232 min read

After Coming Out of the Cocoon, a Poem by Sofiul Azam

if I started, “Once upon a time, not so long ago, lived a man with a habit of regretting his mistakes and making more in the process,”...

Even Jesus Asked Where God Was, a Poem by Renee Emerson*

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Oct 4, 20231 min read

Even Jesus Asked Where God Was, a Poem by Renee Emerson*

Each week the technician presses the wand across my womb. I know better than to ask for interpretations, the half-heart still flickering,...

Since I Saw the Ocean, a Poem by Sarah-Kate Simons*

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Oct 4, 20231 min read

Since I Saw the Ocean, a Poem by Sarah-Kate Simons*

they ask me if i still think of death, i say i always have a shadow, like shafts of rain falling in sunlight. i don’t need monsters and...