Hands / Maps / Home is now available to purchase through the Lulu Bookstore and Pothi. All proceeds will be donated to charity. All proceeds from the sale of Hands / Maps / Home will be donated equally between Medical Aid for Palestinians and Save the Children UK – Gaza Emergency Appeal. Every purchase supports […]
AVAILABLE: HANDS / MAPS / HOME
You cast me in a role I played not well. I could never pull off the perfection of pearls ‘bout my neck, though the noose they formed tightened, tightened slowly. The length of chain attached to shackles round my ankles grew ever shorter with each time you held me to the light in the mirror […]
The Narcissist’s Wife – Annette Kalandros
hidden from the sun
steady you wait watching all
the souls who come here
busy they don’t look upward
revering your glow above
The Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen Literary Collective loves a good writing/creativity prompt challenge. Our goal is to provide prompts on a regular basis. We hope that our ‘Shadow in the Frame’ prompt stirs your muse and that you consider submitting your prompt response to Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen for publication. We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative […]
Writing/Creativity Prompt Challenge: Shadow in the Frame
in that place
quietly she lives
nobody knows clearly
when or how
her smile stolen
yet she remains
silent like mice
under the rain
eyes deep brown
only dark matter
they have seen
why i wonder
afternoon cool wind corn oil scent tree leaves sway cars faraway honk ambulance sirens battle calls debris from those with poisoned veins the pain of their souls the cement has stained dying roses petals shrinking in the sun aging red turned purple bruise pupil trapped in a beam of sun lunch time at the school their joy began innocence fleets with every breath ancient calendar reborn again
i too want a president who has cried at night wondering where bread will come for their babies tomorrow a president who has leukemia addicted to crack and who goes days without eating lays on the concrete because a roof is unaffordable this president must outrun the voices in their head that tells them to eat rat poison my president must know the feel of a baton beating on their skull for not having money to enroll in Princeton or Harvard and being sentenced to perpetual poverty they must definitely have the wherewithal to spend 12 hours in line at the county office to fill out a five foot tall stack of forms to be considered to qualify for a monthly $225 benefit to pay for the mandatory American dream among other qualities this president must know the stench of a 5 day corpse with cracked ribs no hope who the system failed and blew off it will come in handy to know what it’s like to be called a bitch faggot slut wet back whore nigger spic camel jockey cracker and gook to feel their veins run cold on frightful nights of waiting in deserted bus stops being cat called by pimps with machine guns ready to claim and capitalize on your pussy and i want the president who will never forget that the boss are we the people who know what its like to live day and night under the above circumstances
* inspired by the great Zoe Leonard
And so, while Hands / Maps / Home is not directly about Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank, the poetry, prose and art is about humanity. We believed collecting this work together as evidence of humanity and all that encompasses was vital in a world where it seems lacking. This anthology houses identity, […]
Hands / Maps / Home (sneak peek!)
words less spoken 