Listen to and Read Excerpts

We Are | Group Poem

We are ten years of finding our feet and our voices, growing up all the better for it, grounded and brave.

We are the hum in the room which charges our pens and pushes them to the page. Here, they belong in our hands. Here, we know what to say.

Read the full poem here.

Cocooned | Frankie

Cocooned or larvae, and a leaf hanging off a stem—

that is what life felt to me back then.

It was not certain—a fine line between safety and insecurity.

The unifying and protective force was–as usual–me.

Read the full poem here.

Something Like That | Erin

All my life, they have silenced me.
Brought me up on knee-length skirts,
kept me quiet under opaque shirts,
just in case
anyone saw a glimpse
of what they think is theirs.

Read the full poem here.

Hunting the Skunksheep | Magnus

Curious is this creature,
for never ‘twill be found.
No matter how much you seek it,
to the shadows it is bound.

Comparable to the Haggis
of Scottish Highland fame,
this mythical, uncharted beast
is of ilk, much the same

Read the full poem here.

Two Women | Rachel

It’s a complicated situation –

having a complicated relationship with your body

when you’re surrounded by other bodies that work,

bodies that heal once they’ve been hit

rather than simply getting over it.

Read the full poem here.

Spirit | Sam

Remember we are knit from
                 stuttering thread, attempts to speak,
                 a shaking hand that held out a name and said:
here is everything,
                  make what you want with it.
That’s why it feels like we’re naked.

Read the full poem here.

kitchen table days | Sawyer

i craft the shape of us
out of scraps, cast aside,
gathered with raspberry-picking hands.
i pick apart the failing stitches
of another embroidered fantasy turned cold.

Read the full poem here.