Oftentimes, people picture the modern poet as an outspoken individual. This individual shares even her early scraps. I, however, differ from this image. Throughout college, I dreaded the workshop circle. While I like the concept of collaboration, I struggle to…
Guest Post: Laryngitis by Diana Conces
Laryngitis is, of course, a temporary loss of voice. You try to speak, and what comes out is this awkward, hollow hiss, like a particularly disgruntled ghost dragging a rusty pitchfork across a chalkboard, and then everyone around you puts…
Secretary by Megan Roberts
I was called a secretary again. When I hear the word, it makes my blood boil. I know my master’s degree is sitting on the shelf laughing at the way my face contorts when my co-workers spew their venom. The…
A Conversation with Vanessa Blakeslee
An interview by Alicia Cole. Vanessa Blakeslee is the author of the debut novel, Juventud (Curbside Splendor, 2015), hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as a “tale of self-discovery and intense first love.” Her story collection, Train Shots (Burrow Press) won the…
Guest Post: A-merica, our home and native land… by Garreth Chan
I spent two months of my summer entangled and confused in an endless jungle of a fantastically exotic city. Glass and cement twisted into a permanent tango, childish handwriting in chalk emblazoned across uneven sidewalks, slowly scrubbed away by the…
The Fierce and Fragile Journey of Sidestepping Landmines by Catherine Adel West
With every word I write, I try to sidestep a landmine. Avoid disaster. Writing my first novel, I was hoping to find some blueprint on how to vividly dissect and then construct the complex and celebrated distinctions of black women….
Guest Post: The Importance of Hickory-Nut Hunting by W. Royce Adams
Although I’m looking back decades into the ‘50s, I still remember my first college freshman English class assignment. I had been placed in what was then called “dumbbell English,” or Subject A, a course designed for those who didn’t qualify…
Guest Post: Sea Change or How do you swim wearing weights? by Trina Gaynon
My definition of self is tied to my writing life. As an anchor it’s heavy enough, but its efficiency tends to depend on whether or not new poems are being turned out on a regular basis, without a great deal…
Guest Post: On Lena Dunham and Growing Up By Sarah Goncalves
Maturity has a strange way of sneaking up on you. A few years ago, I had watched the first few episodes of Girls, written by and starring girls’ girl Lena Dunham. At the time, I lauded it (as many critics…
Guest Post: Equine Inspiration by Alex Mullarky
Equine Inspiration When I was growing up I was aware of two distinct sides of my personality developing at the same time. On one side, there was an avid reader and aspiring writer who dreamed of bestselling novels and signing…
Guest Post: Shaped by Our Childhoods by Diana Raab
Shaped by Our Childhoods “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.” Anaïs Nin How do the events of our childhoods affect our adult passions and mold who we become? Some believe that our…
A Conversation with Rob Mosca
Interview by Alicia Cole Before being gainfully employed as a mild mannered bureaucrat toiling mindlessly in the bowels of one of Corporate America’s numerous cube farms, Rob Mosca was haunted by dreams of becoming an author. Envisioning a lush life…