“Long has the female presence been holistically controlled by the hands of men; from the Christian Bible’s depiction of Eve as the first sinner, to the creation of the contemporary patriarchy as most know today, men have labeled themselves the dominant sex at the expense of women.“

An etching by Brianna Howard

Doubt takes hold of my memories like a layer of oil.

You give the spring new colors, and we slow dance down by the creek.

A mixed media collage by Maria Blasingame

I was glad when you told me to buy a gun. I thought we could both go like that.

I swallow the air to capture its heartbreaks.

Maybe she’ll drive to the Santa Monica Pier— ride the roller coaster til she pukes.

Brushing hair out of each other’s faces, an earworm, touching as though to memorize.

Oil painting by Ella von Huene

A short film by Jaina Cipriano

enclosed behind enameled metal door,

waistband of black jeans circling ankles,

i open the missive from my mother

Mixed media collage by Irina Tall Novikova

“bad argument?”

“no, the only dream I’ve ever remembered”

watch us grow a little harder. ache a little longer. in defiance.

The shadowy, indeterminate veil, like the sunset’s unwanted gray clouds, fell back over her, and with Margaret no longer wielding a knife to cut through the deadness, she teared up, in gratitude, for seeing through and being seen through.

“your lungs fighting to get air

but this peace makes air seem insignificant”