The Inner Critic Returns from the Dead
By David J. Bookbinder — Foolish boy, foolish boy, foolish boy, why do you torment yourself with ambition when you know as I have always
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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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- Nov 23, 2022
Functional Neurological Disorder
By Darleen Hunzinger — Day and night stranded in bed. Pain resonating from every pore. Smiling anyway. Singing anyway. Praying always.
- Oct 14, 2022
5 Haiku
By Sergio Inestrosa — (1) The dark current of the Mississippi River. Birds screech. (2) A lovely flower from the mountain bower. A wild wind
- Aug 10, 2022
Dandelion
By Lisa Lucca — Despite the small voice inside my head I grew used to hearing since I was an outspoken child, the voice from my family that
- Jul 9, 2022
Dear Ummm,
By Tahirah Walker — I can't bring myself to finish writing your name. Like you couldn't bring yourself to finish loving me. You know I never
- Jun 16, 2022
Move On
By Lynn White — It may not look that way but I've done more than survive my time in this city. It may not look that way
but I’ve done more
- Jun 10, 2022
LIST’D (Love Is Stronger Than Death)
By Miko Reed Collins — A father is half of the air that their children breathe. It’s axiomatic. Believe I love you. Beyond cancer. I love
- May 17, 2022
Bitter Hearts
By Thadeus Emmanuel — When our hearts are bitter and tears oozing like spring water, you will find it best to cry, harder with more nerves
- Apr 29, 2022
A God Thing—The Drum Roll of Synchronicity
By Laura L. Engel — I know you don’t love me. You never give me the attention I deserve. Good luck finding some guy who wants a woman like
- Apr 11, 2022
Burial
By U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo — MAYBE blood will be sacrifice to the God’s of Pain and Suffering. Maybe this blood will scorch the earth
- Mar 13, 2022
Your Reflection
By Rachel Gomez — Would it remind you to nourish yourself, after you promised to never eat again. Because of how guilty you felt after last
- Feb 15, 2022
Playground Angst
By Elizabeth Jaeger — Yes, I watched my son hit your son. You thought I was standing off to the side reading a book. But I was watching
- Jan 22, 2022
Bairro
By Oksana N Mauricio — The child I once was recollecting every last smell from guava, juiciness and mangoes on my mother’s tree. My eyes
- Dec 27, 2021
In Consultation
By Heidi Selig — Anytime anyone expressed a feeling in my familial domicile, my mother would scream, “What do you want from me? Go and see a
- Nov 19, 2021
Despite this Pandemic
By Sinéad MacDevitt — Despite this pandemic, I'm at work. Despite this pandemic, I'm on a sabbatical. Despite this pandemic, I'm constantly
- Oct 22, 2021
Addiction
By Bhuwan Thapaliya — He comes home late in the evening only to slump in front of the television, often with
an alcoholic drink. Her
- Oct 9, 2021
Once, Subdivided
By D.R. James — Like self-exiles, I was proximal; I was blue spot-lit, gray spot-lit, somebody’s sector. I nudged slushy snow by nose and
- Sep 11, 2021
More Tender Mystery
By Rebecca Jane — He promised their minds would birth new stars, then pushed her off the flight over the Eastern Abyss of Abuse. She landed
- Aug 13, 2021
The Orphanage
By Richard Krause — Perils of the orphanage: The past has a hold on you where you can’t even identify whose hands gently removed your
- Aug 1, 2021
Reclaim My Space
By Anita Nahal — The West taught me a thing or two about regarding and guarding personal space. "Don’t push me too much. Don’t come..."
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