Apples

When I hugged her there, it was the first time I’d really meant it. I wondered if she’d noticed. We walked to the farthest edge of the orchard, where the noise of the crowds was overtaken by the wind.

Megan FebuaryDecember 17, 2021healing, writing, women writersComment

9,855 Pairs Of Underwear

Give away power, it’s tough to reclaim. Perhaps I knew this all along, but I still washed his dirty underwear — from the beginning, before children, even when I earned more money than him.

Megan FebuaryDecember 17, 2021nonfiction, writing, women writers Comments

The Chair

Cigarette smoke rose, adding to the cloud that had yet to dissipate, lingering just above your head. The stripes on the sitting room curtains appeared distorted through that filter.

Megan FebuaryNovember 25, 2021writing, women writers, story, storytellerComment

Plunging From the Waves of Grief and Into the Waves of Grace

The ocean calls me. I feel its wild call every morning when I rise. The anticipation of a new sunrise
awakens my soul and my body knows that I must get near the water.

Megan FebuaryOctober 29, 2021writing, grief, healing, women writers, oceanComment

If Not For Her

But, again, her daughter’s soul could not be confined to her mother’s desires.

Guest UserJuly 12, 2021women writers, trauma, writing, mothers, daughterComment

Writing to Heal

My desire for healing, my deep need for support helped writing sneak out and cradle me.

Guest UserNovember 2, 2020women writers, writing, healing, motherhoodComment

The Fullness Of Life, For You

The gap between where you are and where you want to be is the space of neglect.

Megan FebuarySeptember 20, 2020writing, spirituality, nonfictionComment

What Does Not Last Leads Us To What Does

In my therapy one of the main things that was brought up was my fear of losing people and being alone.

Megan FebuarySeptember 14, 2020nonfiction, writingComment

Within Yourself, Not Outside

I’ve been highly observant since I was a little girl. “Did you hear that sound?”

Megan FebuarySeptember 4, 2020nonfiction, healing, writingComment

Two Halves, Same Coin

Sometimes, I feel like I’m two people.

Guest UserSeptember 2, 2020women writers, writing, anxiety, mental health, mental health awarenessComment

Lessons From the Fall Tree

I never noticed how much I missed seasons until I had them again.

Time stagnated, living in an eternal summer. There was no difference between February and July. Everything was the same: sunshine, pool days, palm trees and everyone telling me that I should be happy because I live in paradise.

But it wasn't paradise.

Guest UserAugust 24, 2020women writers, mental health, writingComment

Objects Don't Have Names

We tend to blame and shame victims in this culture, which is why so few are willing or able to speak.

Megan FebuaryFebruary 23, 2020writing, publisher, writer, literary magazine, sexual assault, me too Comments

Same Time Next Week

Every week, without fail, her therapist would ask her the same questions, and again without fail, Emilia would sit there and avoid taking any actual steps towards a resolution. Not that she didn't want to get better, but the fear she had when she approached those memories, those feelings, was just too much. She preferred the isolation of separating herself from that which made her human.

Megan FebuaryDecember 5, 2019therapy, storyteller, therapist, healing, writingComment

Sympathy for the Devil

My rape was a climax in a lifetime of trauma. Braver voices than mine have overcome the shame of violation, the lingering fear of violence and pressed onwards with their lives. I want to ask them, what did they do with the burning self-hatred?

Megan FebuaryDecember 4, 2019sexual trauma, sexual assault, trauma, me too, essay, literary magazine, writingComment

Psychology of a Haircut

A lengthy hospitalization for medical and mental health reasons followed. Me and my braid were back at home after several months. I cut two feet of my hair a week after my arrival home. Even my mother agreed, this was a good choice, a fresh start. The power was in my hands.

Megan FebuaryDecember 4, 2019hair, mental health, mental health awareness, writing, literary magazineComment

Life in a Torn Photograph

I am a fifteen-year-old body, shrinking violet-lipped, dry-skinned, smug body. See my unravelling, see me feast upon my own flesh, see me disappear, see me. Don’t see me. I am a hologram – here one minute, gone the next.

Megan FebuaryDecember 4, 2019body, mental health, mental health awareness, psychology, literary magazine, writingComment

These Days I Don't Write Poems Anymore

These days I don’t write poems anymore, and I feel a part of me is too comfortable hiding, too comfortable with the idea of getting lost in the shadows of a self who never was or never was entirely whole.

Megan FebuaryDecember 3, 2019writing, essay, literary magazine, publisher, sexual trauma, me too, healing Comments

My Commitment to You

I’ve been on the run for too long. Trying to escape from you and from the pain

Megan FebuaryNovember 12, 2019letter, youger self, inner child, therapy, healing, writer, writingComment

Yoga Pants are not the Enemy

I sat in the leadership team meeting and listened as male after male failed to see the implications of their words, heard things like Uncomfortable, Distraction, Temptation--In short, the education of students straight and male is derailed by the bodies of girls.

Megan FebuaryNovember 7, 2019yoga pants, essay, writing, rape culture, school dress codeComment

From Cancer to Conception: The Body’s Resilience

So I distanced myself from that label of cancer patient, practically dissociating with illness, disease and a perceived weakness. I didn’t want pity or to be seen as less than.

Megan FebuaryNovember 6, 2019cancer, pregnancy, infertility, storyteller, writing Comments