Issue 2: Fathers
An Open Letter to Versie Blackman, Sr. (& the bittersweet blessings of being a wounded healer) by VersAnnette Blackman
" It’s bittersweet, this love I have for you. It mixes with the pain and creates beautiful art. So many times I wish I could have saved you. " Daddy, I write to you as a grown woman with the broken heart of a little girl. If you were alive to see me now I believe...
Victor by Veronica Wanchena
" I did not settle for survival. " He was born weak, innocent, dependent and vulnerable just like every other human person that has ever come into the world. He was somebody’s baby boy. He was named and baptized. He was born to a dirt-poor immigrant family. They...
A Father’s Support by Katie Doefhoff
" They are breaking stereotypes by showing emotions as men, providing the strength and support a survivor needs to see. " As a clinician working in the fight against sexual violence, I began my career with a skewed expectation of what my work would look like. I...
things i learned in march by Mar Curran
1. my father could lift me up and put me on his shoulders my father can’t lift me up and put me on his shoulders my father can’t fit me on his shoulders i’m grounded feet stay planted no going out all weekend no digging out on your knees amongst the weeds no second...
I’m Not Yours by R.K. Riley
I’m not yours you can’t make it so try as you might shoving yourself in night after night tracing your name in red against my angel skin so white over and over it still won’t work right what you want what you need isn’t something you can see or touch or feel or steal...
Hush by R.K. Riley
hush now don’t you cry says the father to his child his lips against hers tightly pinched let me kiss you, open up so I can taste the nectar of innocence and lust hush now says the father to his child reach your hand but not for mine for that place where pleasure and...
Journal Entry by Jeff King
8/31/15 April 1, 2012 is a date that will resonate with me for the rest of my life. My family and I had just returned from a week-long spring break trip to Florida. We were getting ready to get back to our regular work and school schedules the following day. It was...