Nonfiction Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Your Therapist Is an Addict by Jane Seskin Here’s the truth. I never met a cigarette I didn’t like. And while I may have flirted with Kent, Marlboro, and Salem, for thirty-six years, my most constant partner in a two-and-a-half pack a day affair was Newport Light 100s. We became acquainted in a restaurant ladies’ room during a friend’s party when she said: “Try this, it’s cool.” And ...
Read MoreNonfiction Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Traces by Janice E. Rodríguez y husband dropped a container of foot powder in the bedroom, and the wintergreen-scented plume sent me reeling away and retching. I have forbidden that smell in our house. My husband gave up his favorite wintergreen candies for me years ago, but secretes the foot powder in the bathroom, using it surreptitiously, thinking I don’t notice, that I don’t hold my breath ...
Read MoreNonfiction Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Fall Risk by Alysia Constantine ome days, I wake up exhausted, kept from sleeping all night because my legs were kicking in the wild spasms of multiple sclerosis. Other days, I’m physically fine, even moderately energetic, but I can’t remember anything that happened the previous week. Still other days, my body can’t make more than a few steps without stumbling. I’ve fallen down the stairs in ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 The G-Tube by Clara Frank ou lie on your side and look at the bedrails. The rails are painted white, but there are rusty cracks in the paint, and you wonder for a moment what could be in those cracks. The pervasive smell of disinfectants reminds you that you are in a hospital. Then you drift off again and in your delirium you see a vast ...
Read MoreFiction Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 3.6 Pounds by Valerie Fioravanti randmother Hannah’s ashes weigh 3.6 pounds. I carry them in her I Support Public Television tote bag, waiting for that moment when I unsnap the lid and surrender her remains to a crisp, willing breeze. Grandmother Hannah’s body was pulled from ground zero after the 9/11 attacks. I’m fortunate to have this closure. Many other families don’t. What have I done to ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #2: Pain September 17th, 2019 September 17th, 2019 Her Perspective by Leslie Hendrickson-Baral Her Perspective Masked bandits held me captive at knife point immobile, fettered incapable of movements slight full body prostrate surrounded by flat, yet burning, human eyes drugs at the ready Stealthy and not easily captured I was never easy prey until this vulnerable moment time and virulent enemies plotted with more ammunition than I could deflect lacking reserve to counter this frontal assault No mortal with heart could possibly attend this rite this vivisection of spirit a rending of my ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Two Poems by Jill Jennings Arthritis The thing nips at my heels, jumps up and claws my knees. I lie down, but the beast follows me, growls and barks, whining at my bedside hour after hour. There he’ll remain the whole night muzzle on my thigh, whimpering, keeping watch, making sure I can’t leave, as if that were an option. My ankles groan like pine floorboards beneath centuries-old feet, every step like dipping into a lake of fire, a burn fed by ...
Read More