A Nightingale Reaches a Crescendo
By Caroline Reddy — When our soil and soul began to fade, we trapped a nightingale in a cage. I stood stained in remorse forgetting about
The
Premier
online
literary
journal
for
Expressive
Writing
The
Premier
online
literary
journal
for
Expressive
Writing
JOURNAL OF
EXPRESSIVE WRITING
THEMES by PROMPT
We publish writing using a series of prompts as an entry point for exploring emotions, personal histories, shared truths, joy, grief, shame, and those themes that matter most to us in our hearts.
Explore the themes by prompt below:
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- Oct 9
Growing Pains
By Ashley Dayanara Campos — I was a professional translator by age seven, a lawyer by age ten, an accountant by thirteen, and on track to
- Aug 13
Blurday
By Duane Anderson — Welcome to a special event the birth of the new word of the year. Welcome to Blurday, to a new lifestyle, where one day
- Jul 5
Blood Red Moon
By Birdman313 — Regardless of your beliefs, it is often wise to pay attention to nature as it often gives us many signs large and small that
- Jun 1
WINTER MAY COME
By Owolusi Lucky — To the undying locust, how deep your ugly belly. To those who said earth load was heavy, do you see the ocean smiling, or
- May 6
Summertime Lost
By Richard Temple — Nearly eight billion sides to this story but we don't have time for that here. Paralyzed stasis:
Nothing is moving, not
- Apr 4
On Reading and Writing during the Pandemic
By Joyce Bou Charaa — Since the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we have been trying to escape the news, the economic crisis
- Mar 15
Inexorable Fate
By Gary Beck — Americans watched on TV as the police were overwhelmed by hundreds of attackers and no one sent reinforcements to defend the
- Feb 18
At Forty
By Yulia Tseytlin — At three, I didn’t shove a thin stick in my mother’s nose, saying ‘corona-test’. At four, when I played school, a mask
- Jan 31
Long Haul Year Two
By Rachel Baum — Another physicians assistant laptop. The doctor is MIA because you are not (ever) sick enough. Pull tight around you your
- Jan 8
Shelter in Place
By Kristin D'Agostino — Am I the only one who finds this phrase liberating? A tyranny of choices reduced to the lowest common denominator,
- Dec 17, 2021
Nesting
By Megan Vos — Last year during Covid, my family noticed that a robin had built a nest under our deck. Our deck is off the back of our
- Dec 3, 2021
I Cried
By Gabrielle Maryland — At the height of the pandemic, I found myself sobbing on whatever floor could hold my shaking frame. Often times,
- Nov 22, 2021
Flatbush Food Co-Op
By Ivy Raff — We came to know each other in these days, idly rolling the rickety red powder-coated shopping cart back and forth over cracked
- Nov 9, 2021
Pandemic Haibun
By Deborah Bacharach — I want to hug Marcie in her orange home-knit sweater. I can see her now coming down Greenwood past the buff work-out
- Oct 29, 2021
Pandemic Wishes
By Anangsha Haldar — Glass rimmed, venous wings hang like paper kites, flittering anxiously, contemplating release from the narrow
- Oct 7, 2021
Walking Down the Street
By Diane Kendig — I am stopped by a man who wants to know if my hat is for Navy. “No, it’s my dad’s Army Air Corps hat,” I say, hold it at
- Sep 29, 2021
My Young Nephew
By REN — Having been privileged to receive and finish education years before the pandemic, I sometimes worry for my young nephew. He's
- Sep 8, 2021
What the Sheltering Do
By Lana Hechtman Ayers — Turnips are all I eat for the fifth night this week
because the market is out of everything,
and facial tissues
- Aug 29, 2021
The Housing Crises is Real
By Victoria Lambert — I received a letter from my landlord's attorney dated April 14, 2020 that stated I should pay my past due rent within