“Reclamation” by Mallika Bhaumik
Someday we might meet,when time has melted in us,our lives look like dried river beds Would you then recognise my face? My face might appear …
Tag: women writers
“some other nights” by Mallika Bhaumik
Nights are essays in loneliness words scrawled in the darknone to be retrieved, I stretch on the bed; disheveled like my hair,twinning with the night.My …
“One Day” by Rebekah Ricksecker
6:47 AM The darkness turns gray; the misty fog rests over the water; the honeysuckle perfumes the air as white petals float on the still …
“Forgotten Man” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Dust motes dance on sunlight streaming through a dingy window. Rusty mailbox, empty, always empty. Cadaverous cobwebs mocking back at him from a peeling wall. …
“Traumatic Pneumothorax” by Melanie Gaughran
Melanie Gaughran is a university student in the city of subdued excitement, Bellingham, Washington. Particularly concerned with her internal workings and misworkings, she finds that …
“Seasons of Earth” by Manisha Manhas
the dust storms whineagainst the windowas cherry dreamsslide inside.Searching a marigold,a child’s eyes bob tothe tunes of morningas do butterflies rise fromchrysanthemum jars.And so does the …
“On Light on Shadow” by L.L. Madrid
The air is thick with a bovine stench. We’re driving eight hundred miles through desert and oil fields to our new home on Dyess Air …
The Missing Brutal Honesty in the Final Walk-Through with the Soon-To-Be-Ex-Tenant by Erika Murdey
Entry Door Yes No Damage to exterior? X Interior? X [The lease says “no nails,” but upon her arrival in December it was …
“Canescent” by Jagari Mukherjee
1 These mornings, I wake to find silver threads in my hair — gleaming as if dipped in the winter moon. I have always loved …
“A Russian Romance” by Nikita Parik
One fanciful Calcutta summer the world maps were ripped off from overused geography textbooks in an act of innocent revolution. You cherry-picked ecstatic reds …
“Almost Rimbaud” by Mary Shanley
I live in the pulse of unconscious patterns. My civilized mind remains incapable of interpreting the illuminated life I experience outside the limits of ordinary …
“7820 miles” by Snata Bose
How can I forget you If your breath is on my skin, A peppermint sweet cloaked around my neck, Hair chaotic against my chest, Eyes …
“The God of Good Things” by Snata Bose
The rain cut me a river wide enough to savour my numbered gardens— each with their own cloud. And in each I bred a different …
“Ice Cream or Moxie” by Kristy Gherlone
In the heat of the summer, back when Willow’s mother slipped in and out of lunacy, sometimes she’d wake up at night to find her …
“Exit” by Anupama Kadwad
I force myself to open the closed lids To catch a glimpse of my surroundings Try my utmost to overcome the lethargy Shake myself free …
“Pledge” by Sheikha A.
Some lands are royalty in just existence: the dragging of the boat from sand to sea, the thick of the tongue on the roof of …
“Nothingness” by Anne Strand
I’ve been awake since 4 a.m. But that was twenty hours ago, and now we’re here, at the party, and …
“Sea Moon” by Sheikha A.
A road divider on our thoroughfare has been constructing since three major eclipses, going under the idea scalpel by fickle engineers – flowers or trees …
“Writing the Believable” by Alex Clare
Hey everyone! Matthew here, we have a special Friday post for you! You may remember Alex Clare as the author of He’s Gone, a mystery novel …
“Stag” by Megan Denese Mealor
Megan Denese Mealor has been published widely in numerous journal, most recently Children Churched & Daddies, Beakful, streetcake, and Harbinger Asylum. A two-time Pushcart Prize …
“Four Teacups” by Irtika Kazi
Four tea cups lay unattended since Mittag – on the black, bedraggled table in the canteen. You and I – drinking each other in— …
“To Know Life, To Fight Unarmed” by Sarah Kersey
To know life is to greet knowing you won’t unmeet. To know life is to see your creators split into demigods, degrading into man and …
“Half-Dream” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Gilded morning shatters sleep, dreams cling on with tenacious teeth. A confused reality sorting through a fragmented emotional state. Warm bed, cold toast. Sensations …
“Night” by Chestina Craig
I have been raised to fear my footfalls in the dark to be a walking skirt is to sacrifice safety, sway like an open gate …
“Icing” by Melissa Bobe
She’d had a cupcake for breakfast every day for the last month. Thick on the icing, more often than not with sprinkles, occasionally filled with …
Mother Rips my Roots by Jasmine King
With Lines from “The Apple Trees at Olema” by Robert Hass Shakes me by the raw, white, backlit flaring of her lightning streaked hand. Fingers …
“He Stared Down the Barrel of a Gun and He Saw Me” by Stephanie Luka
I watched you slide swiftly into the fog encapsulating Eagle Junction railway station. Scraps of rust leaking with oil-stained dew flung into the past, and …
“Skin” by Chestina Craig
SKIN is the bodies first line of defense. our metal shell wrap-around sometimes, your body can confuse fortress for prison, my mother is able to …
“Hatching” by Lena Silver
I was born an old soul they say, a quiet spectator mulling over muddled thoughts, about what I don’t know, perhaps a previous lifetime. I …
“War Paint” by Linda Imbler
Tonight the battle will begin. But first, as the concealer smooths across my eye folds, I picture her breathlessly saying hello to him, always making …
“At What Price” by Ann Christine Tabaka
He stood outside the door asking for directions, lost hope in hand. Paying the toll with a pocketful of dreams. Aspirations evaporating at the sound …
“Beware of the Quiet” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Do not allow the quietness that saturates the halls of night break through the dawn. For it will shatter all perception of time …
“This is What We Do Now” by Becky Shirley
You come home, half gallon of milk in one hand, the other snaking around my waist. Head buried in my shoulder, no words, just small …
“Jigsaw” by Amber West
I was born a human jigsaw puzzle. I emerged from my mother’s womb, not as a whole baby, but in scattered pieces. The doctors worked …
“Daymare” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Fragments of dreams scattered among the ruins of once lofty ambitions, buried along with lost loves and white lace promises Standing tall against the crumbling …
“Truth Conditions” by Natalie Einselen
Tsuki Amai’s wristwatch emitted a soft click, and she tugged gently at her ear to make sure, for the tenth time that day, that she …
“Looking Out From My London Flat” by Kelsey Parrotte
It’s not smoggy like they say it is in London, at least I don’t think so, but the River Thames is filthier than I had …
“Dead Self thoughts reincarnated in words” by Stela Xega
Darling, listen. no matter what we do our fingers will end up blistered, our palms bloody if we look into the mirror long enough to …
“Attic Kitty” by Anna Keeler
Someone would love to have you for a daughter; Wouldn’t mind you in the attic, stealing their things. The walls would be yours, as …
Interview with Gerardeen Santiago of Aionios Books
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Gerardeen Santiago is a poet and publisher I originally met at Glassless Minds in Oceanside. When the Metaworker staff was suggesting new people …
“The Watcher” by Jenna Crosier
Every year, from the first I was assigned to the graveyard, I would watch the headstones from my place upon the highest pine tree. My …
“To the Best” by Anna Keeler
We sit on the precipice of Heaven and pollution; you hand Me an empty box and promise Desultory protection. Our bodies, superimposed From two …
“Rocks” by Elena L. Perez
Obsidian, black, but when held up to light it is semi-transparent. Also known as Apache Tears. Roughly circular in shape, about half an inch by …
“Belittle” by Kelsey Parrotte
Yesterday you were five foot ten and today your toes don’t touch the base of the bed. You cocoon yourself deeper into the blankets, stuffing …
“How We Love” by Lauren Brodowski
Sometimes I like to reimagine religion and the stories I was told as a child, so that it fits the way I understand the world …
“Ventricle” by Amber West
I lost my heart last night. It must have happened in my sleep. I didn’t notice at first, but when I looked in the mirror …
“If I Were to Outlive You” by Ellen Webre
If I were to outlive you, I would feel the poet in me blackening, nails pulling in like a sea of petals in the mouth …
“Verb Tenses” by Meli Ewing
The letter I wrote Lilly first thing after I found out talks to her in the present tense, like she still exists, because she does …
“The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes” by Marina Shugrue
Every morning I look in the mirror and hope for a different reflection. The problem with makeup is that it doesn’t cover every scar. And …
“Masquerade” by Laurie Frisbey
I reveal the parts I want you to see you think you know me masquerade ugly thoughts inside my head mourning at the side of …
“Stretch” by Sandra White
I hold the moon like a baby in my arms. If I let it go, it will fall. The light of the night will die. …
“Hypertension” by Maya Castleman
Hypertension: Each bus line a grime-filled artery, Each soup line snaking concrete corners, slithering in human filth like wet soil, wet and thick …
“The Pissing Contest” by Laurie Frisbey
Let’s make this a pissing contest. Place your bet with mine. I’m bound to win if winning means a longer yellow line. ‘Cause yellow’s the …
“Traffic Kids” by Farah Billa
I don’t think in Bengali, I think it is just one of those things that fold my body the way my grandfather used to. At …
“Water” by Gabby Catalano
“He laid his head in my palms And I watched as he grew a garden of roses Across a dying field. He had the power …
“Six Wheat Stories” by Emily Ruth Taylor
1 My grandfather lived next to two wheat farmers. I secretly wished my grandfather was a wheat farmer. I would bicycle along the edge of …
“On South Providence Road, 11:34 PM” by Tonya Eberhard
Catacombs and catastrophe fill my head. I cannot sleep. We end up going for a drive. The car pushes past streetlights and traffic stops— little …
“Blood Orange Soda” by Maya Rahman-Rios
Wait until your mother and brother have left the house. Then, call him. Four oh eight, five five five, seven three eight oh. You’ve had …
“Sunday School” by Natalie Crick
Madeline loves it And sits as Mother would. The priest is like her Father Dressed all in grey, Palms fluttering with Paper clowns, Legs and …
“A Passage” by Irsa Ruçi
This one’s a very special post. We’re presenting to you the work of the highly accomplished Albanian Poet Irsa Ruçi, both translated, and in its …
“Confessionals” by Chestina Craig
I’m always finding myself writing about fire Maybe because I always got so much to burn maybe cause I’m a fire sign it’s easy because …
“Omen Sketches” by Rachelle Pinnow
Rachelle Pinnow is also a professional geologist and a part-time writer. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s creative writing program, her short stories and …
“Casualties, or I can’t f*#!ing understand this Ikea Diagram” by Dani Neiley
Hello, everyone! It’s Friday again and we’ve got another extra thing to share. When we were all talking, we realized we’ve all shared some of …
Interview with Alex Clare
To celebrate the release of her debut novel, we are pleased to present an interview with Alex Clare, author of He’s Gone. Read an excerpt …
“Girl” by Chestina Craig
I used to think girl meant pink meant birthday cake roses wilting for safety & always use your inside voice but sometimes it means shout …
Excerpt from “He’s Gone”
We at The Metaworker are excited to bring you something a little different this Friday. We’ve been given the opportunity to work with Impress Books, …
“Diamondsuit” by Rachelle Pinnow
Rachelle Pinnow is also a professional geologist and a part-time writer. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s creative writing program, her short stories and …
Our New Editor!
Hello! Matthew here with another announcement! And this is one I’ve been waiting for. Those of you who have been reading our about us will have …
“Conversations with Carbon” by Chestina Craig
I ask carbon, what does it feel like to be backbone? To have multiple arms? To be mother to all of me. Mother to all …
“La Ciudad” by Ellen Zhang
Late night insomnia in la ciudad that never sleeps is a gift. I slip between the dusk, waltzing weaving between hum of streetlamp. Twirling in …
“Seep” by Elizabeth Tyrell
Seep Thought like a torrent of water Seep- drip, drip, drip. Each mould to old ideas that drip into a now opened mind. …
Interview with Your Editors
What sort of subjects/genres do you like to write about and why? MARINA: I’m a big proponent of mixing genres, so everything and anything is …
Author Interview: Jean Barker
JEAN BARKER left a successful writing career as a journalist and humor columnist in South Africa to pursue her long-delayed dream of becoming a filmmaker in …
Author Interview: Jessica Therrien
Read our previous post for more details, but to sum it up: For the Month of March, we won’t be publishing your submissions (keep sending them, though!) …
“Every Night” by Ellen Webre
Every night I’ve lain awake with baited breath. Shadows flash across the ceiling as cars pass by the window. There is a woman out there, …
“On Writing” by Marina Shugrue
The reason I write is a simple one: I’ve always done it, and I can’t imagine living my life without writing. When I think about …
“A Dream About a Sky That is a Sea” by Meli Ewing
I am getting off the school bus at the top of the driveway in the afternoon on a Friday. In real life, there were only …
“Write” by Elena Lucia Perez
Sit up straight, feet flat, pen poised – ready? Now don’t think, just write what comes to mind. Don’t pick up your pen, just keep …
“A Question Considered in a Pedal Car” by Ellen Webre
How am I fitting in this right now? It’s been years, centuries since I was small enough to terrorize villages and miniature pedestrians in this …
“The Woman Who Makes My Salad” By LilyAnne Rice
It occurred to me the other day that I don’t know your name even though you wear a name tag. I never even bothered to …
“How to become a Professional Writer (And Get Paid Too)” by Nicole Mormann
How to Become a Professional Writer (And Get Paid Too) It sounds like a headline too good to be true, right? Finding a good writing …
“Kinds of Tears” by Zoe Zhang
It’s funny how there are different kinds of tears. Tired ones that creep from the corners of your eyes, brushed away with impatient fingers; dry, …
“Steps” By Elena Lucia Perez
She looks at the ground, the sky, the trees; anywhere but her own heart. She must, at all costs, keep the poison from entering her …
“One Girl” by Ellen Webre
One girl bakes a hundred cupcakes and gives them away for free. One girl wastes perfectly good eggs on a car. One girl’s dog gets …
“Battlegrounds” by Marina Shugrue
The needle pricks my skin and I gasp as I shake out my hand. A little speck of red blood lands on the grey flooring. …
“Catfish” by Amethyst Hope Hethcoat
My room is black as an Olympic runner—except for the illuminated screen of my Sony Vaio which radiates like Chernobyl. My laptop is cherry red; …
The Cycle of Writing by Nicole Mormann
The first time I tried to ride a two wheel bike, I remember my dad running alongside my six-year-old self as I swerved down the …
“Lethargic Colonist in Church’s Chicken” by Ellen Webre
He comes for honey, sweetness of the meaty earth he plants his flag in. Sunlight pollinates the horizon with gold. He moves like a rolling …
We’re Doing What Scares the Sh*t Out of Us and We Love It
No one ever said it would be easy being writers. Instead, we heard things like, “So what do you plan to do with your degree? …