Author name: strongs

‘Hagalaz’, by Ruth V. Chalkley

Anthology /

In Lithuanian, runoti means both “to cut (with a knife)” and “to speak”.       Hail: Hagalaz       Pain, loss, suffering, hardship, sickness, crisis.        Spirit-breaker        Faith-Taker        Misery-Maker        Joy-Stealer        Dream-Breaker        Shadow-Hound.            Thought-Waker        Friend-Fooler      … Continue Reading ‘Hagalaz’, by Ruth V. Chalkley

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‘And for a long time’, by Amy Allara

Anthology /

And for a long time  She wanted to tell it to someone  place it in the visible world—  yet nothing she could speak of  nor anything she had been told.  In our residences,  the old-fashioned exile  of unwelcome subjects  to guard against  the wrong arrangement of text. How to narrate an illness  in fairer climates… Continue Reading ‘And for a long time’, by Amy Allara

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‘The Sick Mother’, by Amy Wray Irish

Anthology /

(after a poem by Jane Kenyon) The sick mother stayed in the car During swimming, music, dance. Not yet fifty, She had learned the many ways The able-bodied become just bodies. Afternoon always came too quick With its carpools and constant motion. She was still the secretary Of details and schedules.  Still indispensable. So in… Continue Reading ‘The Sick Mother’, by Amy Wray Irish

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‘It was necessary to lend myself to the memory’, by Amy Allara

Anthology /

It was necessary to lend myself to the memory  of a body that could.  To separate from the broken figure,  the body that would not listen.  To not pretend.  To forego.  To not waste the clock’s signal.  To set it straight.  To disown magical inclinations.  To attach to that which understands.  To disavow the indifferent. … Continue Reading ‘It was necessary to lend myself to the memory’, by Amy Allara

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‘It is absurd to suppose that forms spring from names’, by Amy Allara

Anthology /

And what are the chances that I am  what this is  this as what I am  told to be the case  and I am the case  to be taken on and  out of the way  fix it so others can breathe  and get on with it  what are the chances  that this is what I… Continue Reading ‘It is absurd to suppose that forms spring from names’, by Amy Allara

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‘that unwanted invasion’, by R. Redman

Anthology /

that unwanted invasion – now tethered over my back binding my knees burdening my shoulders  with the heaviness which is my own being –  my own cosmic orb of flames arcing slowly across from dawn until dusk and smoldering on  through shadowland. – now anchored still tugging below my ribs pulling inside my left eye… Continue Reading ‘that unwanted invasion’, by R. Redman

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