Kim has a new job.
I’m the new poetry editor at Firefly Magazine! Send us your fresh babies!
http://fireflymagazine.weebly.com/masthead.html
Masthead – Firefly Magazine
The Queen is Gasping
Nicole gives a poem of memory, loss, and something else.
I no longer speak your name
but my walk is still tall
and quite jagged from the love
you left inside of me.
I drag my feet
with the weight of it
sloshing in the pit of my belly
when I stroll through
the market searching for
that old farmer and his melons,
the ones we ate under
the bridge all of those times,
but I thumb my pockets
and fiddle with the seams
when I come up empty-handed,
but for the clear eyes
and crooked smile that
graces my lucky penny,
and I laugh knowing
the queen is gasping
when I put her back
in my pocket again.
© Nicole Lyons 2017
I am not a place for cowards
Nikki says she has layers – bet you do too.
Madness
Edgar Allan Poe said,
“If a poem hasn’t ripped apart your soul; you haven’t experienced poetry.”
Here is a poem from Alfa.
Where Do Stars Come From?
Devon offers her first attempt at a children’s story. Enjoy
A lot has changed for me in six months
Devon encounters the spiritual power of beauty.
2AM Thoughts – What Do You Want In Life?
Veronike has important thoughts at 2am.
It’s 2AM and I should be asleep. I need sleep, God knows, there’s Monday starting rotation in Paediatrics awaiting, I have to clear out the rest of my apartment tomorrow and I am on medication that my body is still adjusting to in addition to a cold that isn’t physically making me any more prepared for life right now. Yet, here I am at 2AM, thinking. I have been thinking too much today (well, yesterday, technically) and I wish I had a switch in my head to make it stop. I contemplate many things, have debates in my head with myself about life and its many issues and like algebra, my brain works until it has reached the “x = ?” final line. What is the equation? “What do you want in life?” We get asked that question all the time and we are told by many how important it…
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Fifty Years of Bad Decisions: Change the Voices Within—and Without Breaking the Legacy of Silence #44 | Kim D. Bailey | FIVE:2:ONE
Kim’s latest on Five2One is about bad decisions and, as usual, very good.
My life is exactly that—mine. I do the best with it each day. No one has a right to preface their justifications for denying me anything based on who I am, or even all I’ve done. Deny me your time, protection, money, or love—just do it honestly and take responsibility for it instead of pushing that off on me.
Cast That Messy Shine
Nicole says what she likes.
I like dirty hearts
and restless minds,
the old souls that
have known hard lives;
the ones who cast
the most beautiful shine.
© Nicole Lyons 2017
Cis ‘Allies,’ You Probably Think This Work is About You
Sam has some things to say, to which I will add that comfortable people rarely, if ever, make real change.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by cis “allies” that if I don’t directly appeal to them in the most generous terms possible, I can’t expect their support. And as far as I can tell, this is a pretty explicit way of saying, “I will not affirm the humanity of transgender people unless their movement caters to me.”
I mean, at least you’re being honest so I know upfront that I can’t count on you.
A lot of fake allies came out in full force when I wrote an article in late March, really unpacking different trans-antagonistic microaggressions (in plain terms, acts that hurt trans people in subtle but important ways). I put an incredible amount of labor into that work, trying to hold space for cis folks’ emotional realities while also being firm about what is and isn’t acceptable when interacting with folks from…
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cabbagesandkings524 