Interview by Carolina Meurkens and Selvi Bunce Chloe Dulce Louvouezo is a Congolese-American author, mother, and advocate for women whose work is driven by discourse on identity and healing. She is author of Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories from Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust (HarperCollins Publishers, November 2021), through which she explores nuances … Read more(Issue 15) Prose Feature: Chloe Dulce Louvouezo
Photo Source: Instagram @therealkaycee_ I didn’t know much, but I knew this was funny: The man who cheated on me a few days after we began a relationship sent me a one-thousand word breakup text beginning with a Maya Angelou quote – you know, the slightly annoying one about “people showing you who they are … Read moreI Didn’t Know Much by Nwokedi Kenechukwu
Image by artist duo Sacrée Frangine (@sacree_frangine) My best friend through high school was Indian by way of South Africa. She introduced me to her parents with pride: ‘Marise is more Indian than all of us, she was actually born there!’ When I first heard that, I was mortified. To me, her Gujurati family, the … Read moreChuddies by Marise Phillips
Photo by Mimi Mutesa 4 stars Naked: the honest musings of 2 brown women is a wide-ranging and fearlessly vulnerable collection of poetry by Mimi Mutesa and Selvi M. Bunce on everything from race to love, family to mental health, accompanied by lovely illustrations by Mutesa. In different sections, it explores the complexities of having … Read more“Naked” by Mimi Mutesa & Selvi M. Bunce – Reviewed by Capri Huffman
Image by Alex Lau The old lady Sophie had become was more than a fool for kids. It was in the end that she first began to see how her magnetic attraction toward babies, especially her babies, was affected by her terribly troubled childhood. So much more than a puppy phenomenon, she saw past their … Read moreBeing Grandma by Cynthia Yancey
Image source: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/wooden-bridge-1-1406385 Daddy’d turn south off Route 60 onto KY 32 about halfway between Morehead and Elliottville, near Hogtown, rumble across the wooden-plank bridge that had no sides, then follow the dirt road and the creek that cut through the hills just there. When Old House Creek was running low, we’d just splash on … Read moreThe Old Home Place by Vivian Lawry
Photo Credit: Dave Rusk My wife and I finally settled into a financially and physically secure retirement. Two years ago, we bought our forever home, unpacked boxes that had been in storage, and eased into the next chapter of life; for me, this included writing, painting, crafting, and grandchildren. This week we’re packing boxes and … Read moreFlying Nuns by Pamela Kaye
Image source: https://wallpapersafari.com/ivy-vine-wallpaper/ The god of cannibals will be a cannibal… —Ralph Waldo Emerson Don’t look around so surprised that a brick is talking to you. I’m compelled to speak because someone inside the building where I have been installed has been playing over and over those ridiculous sixties and seventies British albums—so-called classics—Thick as … Read moreThick as a Brick: Masonry’s Response by Mike Cohen
Artwork by Meyshe, created at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, CA. appeared first on https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2015-05-06/creative-growth-art-center-gives-artists-with-disabilities-a-place-to-shine “Will I be a good father?” He was ten. He hadn’t even been correctly diagnosed yet. There was something wrong. Or at least there was something that wasn’t right. “Will I be a good father?” What boy contemplates … Read moreToo Honest and Pure of Heart by Tobie Helene Shapiro
Image source: Chop Suey Club Shoved with a xenophobic passion, Elizabeth toppled to all fours like a creature. She was an object or something to be objectified. He spat at her like she deserved a punishment, like she was a kitten who wouldn’t meow for this disgruntled man. The chalky cement gnawed at her fragile … Read moreMother’s Hands by Yebecca