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 in the side bar.

A Moment

By Elijah Silva — In the realm of walks home from my campus to the myriad of apartment complexes directly to the south, a heavily debated

Way I see it

Sep 6, 2024

An Omen From COVID

By B. Craig Grafton — When everyone went into a panic mode about the COVID, I did too at first. After all, we were told by our government

Covid-19

Sep 2, 2024

Tanking The Growth Chart

By Emma Grenier — Waving goodbye to my family, I feel okay. Tired, from our strenuous day at the water park, but luckily the drive will be

Who am I today?

Aug 30, 2024

Last year’s planner pages

By Sharon Pajka — Insurance will not cover rehab. They will not cover the ER. They will not cover transportation to memory care. I call a

No one noticed

Aug 28, 2024

Her Name Was Sarah

By Beth Davies — I tried to write about these events thirty-three years ago, but the words were elusive back then. The hurt too deep, the

If only

Aug 26, 2024

Wednesday morning on the island with friends

By Craig R. Kirchner — Coffee brewing at 6:45 and the ants beat me to the sugar. The size of two pinheads, but there are hundreds, in an

Way I see it

Aug 23, 2024

Conditional Love

By Carolyn Martin — I’m conditioned to follow Rumi’s advice to sell my tongue and buy a thousand ears when you arrive with the latest

Love

Aug 20, 2024

WHITE HAIR

By Grzegorz Wróblewski — The old mare no longer fit in the expensive stables. She was gray and lame, so her owners sent her to a

Ask Me

Aug 17, 2024

What Smokey Robinson Hears

By Vicki lorio — The summer when I play Motown records at my friend's house, Smokey hears my friend's father say the only good black man is

Way I see it

Aug 15, 2024

LOVE IN THE TIME OF 40 ROSEBUSHES

By Elizabeth Lewis — There are things you cannot know about life, with its relentless cycles and imperatives until you have been burned to

Love

Aug 13, 2024

A Lesson from an Inner City Teacher

By Michael H. Brownstein — Tempers are not something easily held. Students know this. They understand how to get a reaction from a teacher

Who am I today?

Aug 10, 2024

Wisconsin Passages

By Darrell Petska — Like reclining bodies these Baraboo hills lie, where Sauk and Ho-Chunk, Fox and Kickapoo tribes weaved earth and

Grateful

Aug 8, 2024

So certain of the uncertain

By Jonash Lepcha — Did I say something, every time, unknowing that silence at times says everything and more? I do not have to say many

Who am I today?

Aug 6, 2024

Be

By Claire H Coenen — I want to give my life to wind, receive the sway of weeds, receive the song of bees, bees, bees, being. Not busy.

Joy

Aug 3, 2024

Women too often can see beauty in everyone else but themselves.

By Amanda Werner — When I notice I am resenting my body for not looking a certain way, I try to remind myself of two women I cared for while

Way I see it

Aug 1, 2024

Today, at 70

By Lee Ann Stevens — I am grateful for my parents. Sane, steady, able to let go. I am grateful for the body I was born in. Healthy.

Grateful

Jul 29, 2024

INTERTWINED

By Faith Canright — Your flavor of easy lies, lover of my deepest heart. Our fragrance of stolen time. Passion grows in lush green eyes

Love

Jul 26, 2024

Races

By Anita Nahal — I call my hair wild when it’s not set. The way I like it. Right down to each curl’s twisting bit. I fret and fume that I’m

Privilege

Jul 22, 2024

Broken

By Ruth Bacharach — I have to call. Who will open the window when my roommate soils herself? I have to ask for a pillow, for chairs, one

Despite

Jul 18, 2024

An Embarrassment of Wild Prairie Roses

By Shelly Norris — Gangly, disheveled thickets sprout beneath her east windows, harden and bloom cold springs, thrive arid summers, shed

If only

Jul 15, 2024