Earshot

[Image description: photograph of a brick fireplace. A single log is beginning to burn with small flames, and there are brightly glowing embers scattered beneath that.]

I heard their words direct at me. When I grasped the sounds, they related precisely what was felt. I allowed their words to be about me, to confront me, and to attack me, and I allowed the utterances to be real.

FictionSuzanne StasMay 10, 2019disability, ableism, control, loneliness, power, solitude, isolation, depression, family

Anesthesia Blue Ribbon Queen

[Image Description: A close up of a pile of multi-colored tablets and capsules, ranging from bright pink, yellow and green, to sky blue.]

My pills & herbs & self-medications fill a mass grave.

Tinctures held under my tongue. A burning prayer.

PoetryNikita AndesterSeptember 5, 2018poetry, disability, chronic illness, Nikita Andester