She Learned It From The Moon
By Gerry Grubbs — I am humming an old song she used to sing, saying she learned it from her father who learned it from his mother who it is
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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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Feb 7
Old apple tree & compass points
By Colin Ian Jeffery — There is an apple tree where I often go and sit beneath and if I listen very heard, I hear my brother's happy cries
Feb 4
The Door Never Closes
By Ruth Bacharach — When I say I’m tired and need to rest, the caseworker keeps talking. When I say I need pain medication before physical
Feb 1
Pain
By Judith Gray — Her son lay limply on a tiny hospital bed, his tanned, muscular legs protruding from beneath a rumpled bed sheet.
Jan 28
He's a Mystery: Ode To Self
By Nkosilathi Moyo — I heard they’re asking, where is he? In the US or the UK? He goes everywhere, like a tree he can sway. Every day,
Jan 25
She's a Wildflower
By Nitika Balaram — The thing about wildflowers is that they will grow in almost any condition. Whatever life throws at them, even when
Jan 22
My Two Fathers
Helga Gruendler-Schierloh — A slightly faded document brutally revealed to me that the wonderful man who so devotedly took care of me was
Jan 18
Dislocated
By Mona Mehas — In the beginning, there was panic, I took all the precautions, stayed home, wore a mask if I went out, had food delivered,
Jan 12
Charity
Samuel Torontour — Our good will can raise humanity to its pinnacle, and through restoration of mutual trust, we can rebuild our great love,
Jan 8
When a Bruise Isn’t Just a Bruise
By Ann Kendall — The bruises started when she was three months old — changing her baby feet from sweet, delicious, squishy mounds of pink to
Jan 4
City Smells
Mehreen Ahmed — Dimly lit under the street lamps in an old alley at midnight, a nostalgia wells up. A perceptible city smell tickles the
Dec 29, 2023
Should I Stay or Should I go?
Giovanni Gallo — She looked over the cliff as the clock ticked. Thinking about her life, was it really worth continuing? Her time struck
Dec 21, 2023
I’m here
By William Odell — Vanquished to the elements again. The glass aperture alludes your aggressive deportment, hidden, your valiance. You pose
Dec 18, 2023
Perhaps
By Holly Payne-Strange — Perhaps I am not in love with you. Perhaps I am enthralled, dangerously besotted and beautifully dedicated. Maybe
Dec 15, 2023
POISON OF HATE
By Priya Chouhan — White foam on the outer edges of lips, stains of foul red at the center, disgusted words forming the saliva. The tongue
Dec 12, 2023
Equilibrium
By Eugene Datta — A tangle of leafless branches and twigs across a wire fence,
and through it the winter sky: patches of blue, gray and
Dec 8, 2023
Home Sick
By S. J. Praino — Is the stomach bug real or a result of escalating anxiety? I'm ready to shift employers or assume homelessness if that's
Dec 5, 2023
Moments in a Dream
By Birdman313 — Miracles fall like raindrops from the heavens on this dry thirsty land. You awaken in the morning after finally getting a
Dec 2, 2023
Editor
By Karol Nielsen — I became a literary magazine editor after my memoir excerpt was named a notable essay in The Best American Essays.
Nov 28, 2023
Considering my essence
By Antonia Deignan — I was fixing a light bulb. It was a tiny one, no larger than my thumb. It lived in a salt rock lamp. The salt rock lamp
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