The Girl in the Apartment Below As the train whistled past the lonely road, She stood still. The stale neon lights illumined the plastic smile on her lips. Her burdened shoulder drooped. Yet, she waved. She was all but ten.…
Gluttony Moves In to Stay The mother worries and hovers, pecking things. Brings a slimming duvet, toes to nose. Daughter’s eyes skitter, blink Morse code: what did you bring? What is she hungry for? What does she want? Siblings and…
Second November Two years alive without you day into night somehow winds a life. Day into night in rooms where women are dying where Mrs. Richman waits for the scary angel to come, that last doctor who says no, I…
The Mother I kept them close when they were young. The boys could roam as far as the mulberry in Schiozzi’s yard qnd the empty lot by the East River. They’d wrestle in the grass, send spitballs across the dinner…
Human Trafficking in the United States Am I their mother? They took them from me My captors Tore them from my arms as they emerged from my womb My babies One after the other I cried after every missed period…
What Mother Means Clara Lemlich young Ukranian immigrant gave a Yiddish speech I’ve Got Something to Say after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 20,000 immigrant women all joined to make a union all those women at last night’s Clara Lemlich awards…
Octogenarian Sips Glass Half-Full When I walk down the street, a stream of smiles rolls towards me like a school of rainbow fish. I guess I must wear quite a grin. My style’s just Carpe diem – blow and make…
Poets discuss their experiences participating in the “Seeking Your Voice” writing workshop and in “The Mother Dispossessed” project: Srividya Kannan Ramachandran feels that the workshop has improved her writing and helped her develop a better appreciation for poetry. She…
We Women Three “Oh no,” my daughter and I gulped in unison as we saw the slack elastic of my mother’s folded underpants. Stained blouse fronts, gaps of stitching in side seams of thirty-five year old dresses run out of…
Note: A version of this photo was exhibited at the ‘Nasty Women’ exhibit at The Knockdown Center in Queens NY Jan. 2017. It was also multiple signage at NYC and Denver and SF Women’s Marches Jan. 21, 2017 GUARDIAN: All…