​This is how it happened.

I was 11 years old.
Two girls in my class pretended to be my friends.
They stole my diary.
They picked the lock.
Spreading my secrets across the playground like jelly.

I wrote about boys,
how they didn't like me because I was fat.

I wrote about hating my mother, how crazy she was.

I wrote about hating my body.
Trying to lose weight, then
eating a half gallon of ice cream.

Those girls, picking the lock to my soul.
Opening it with a wrench,
a straightened paperclip,
a pair of pliers,
a jackhammer.
Blasting it open with a stick of dynamite.

Pages flying.
Screaming everything wrong about my life.

I never kept a diary again.
I learned to keep everything inside.
How I felt, what I needed,
who I liked,
all the sadness.

This is what I know. You can't trust anyone.
This is my motto.
I live by it.


Author Bio:
Eliza Mimski is 72 years old and lives in San Francisco. She is a retired English teacher and for many years she taught writing. She's always loved words and a few years ago began sending her poetry and prose out to literary magazines. It's been very rewarding for her seeing her work in print, both online and off. 

Throne of red bonnets remains to remind us of lust
Amidst fractures from Tinder’s white lies. 
Love wasn’t always on groupon next to shampoo that soothes
When sunrises shook irises from unpolluted moonlit skies 

we carved our names in the forest’s
bloomed dark glass which holds powder to portray what you saw-
Dahlia and soil growing rich in their dust
Hearts of courtship masked in slavery’s cries

Lifting plantation songs never stained, starving while 
Sweet gentry hide shredded feet behind roses
Southern life dead. Once flowering trellis, cracked thorns now pierce
Loves an abandoned culture of history’s

Living-minded figurines your fragile
History inked into your ancient skin as it melted with mine one last time


Author Bio:
Molly McGrane is from Chicago IL, and is currently a Batten Scholar at Culver Academy. Her work has been published in The Quill. 

Go on 
Be with yourself 

You will have lovers 
Men will come into your life as they always have...
But this life is about you for you 
So be with yourself 

That’s the partner you have to hold 
She’s the one you’ll undoubtably spend your last days with 
Make sure you like her
Make sure you can be with her 

You may find big love with another 
But even then there’s no guarantee 
So make love to you 
Fall deeply into yourself 

Find your inner truths 
Face your darkness 
Emerge from your own pain and access your internal joy 

Because that’s all there is in this life 
A reflection of the internal experience of you 
There’s everything within 
The greatest love you’ve ever known 
Spiritual connection through the center of your being 

There, in your stillness and solitude, you will find her 
And with her you are one with the eternal light of life 
Surging with boundless love 
Unthinkable amounts of compassion and peace radiate from that place 

You will never regret the choice 
The choice to choose yourself at every opportunity 
I love you - I’m right here 


Author Bio:
Dori Lewis is the owner and operator of Reflective Healing, LLC. in Fort Collins Colorado. She is on a quest for connection and spiritual wholeness.