Mr. Director by Nicole Heneveld

  When a highly respected British director tells me I am not feminine enough, I do not immediately understand. I wonder if this is an acting note or a personal insult, whether he was making a point as a director or as a man or both. The play is Women Beware...

Siren by A.L. Kander

Loud red, fire-engine red alarm on his arm screaming. Emergency dispatch, please send one of each: a cop, an ambulance, and a fire-truck. We might need everyone. Wet, smearing blood, thin like water, making doctors wonder. “Fish oil supplements,” he answers with...

Hollow by Danese Grandfield

once upon a time i watched and waited as mother sewed, her nimble fingers stitching the last now one, two, three stitches, and then she draped it, finished, lovingly around my shoulders, kissed me on the cheek, and pulled up the hood. “When you are in the woods,...

Evaporated Life by Jackie Filer

I sit cross-legged on her couch, running my hands up and down the sides of my thighs like a small child who has been asked where the last cookie in the jar went. The dryness overtaking my throat is doing a grand job of silencing my tongue as I try desperately to...

Penance by Whitney Rio-Ross

Reflecting on cupped hands and tangled limbs, the mirror will show what you missed:   Wrapped under your reach, my palms remain open, legs paired sleeping snakes.   Forgive my mouth for making no sound. You never asked what I had to say.   My name is...