Survival & Beyond
Home in Our Bodies: How Abuse Separates Survivors from Physical & Emotional Safety
Domestic abuse and other interpersonal forms of violence are especially potent threats because they typically happen in one’s personal space and involve those closest to them. This means that abuse at home can be more easily committed because of 1) privacy and 2) access.
Read MoreThe House
Mydalis Vera aka Guerrera Writer I don’t remember when the front window cracked …
Read MoreDaffodil
J As a child my favorite flower was the daffodil. I loved the bright yellow petals, the amusing shape, the way it stood strongly on its stem. It seemed like a flower with something to say. I was sixteen when I got my first tattoo. The needle stung, but…
Read MoreUn imagen de mi mamá
Reyna Nicol Pencil, marker, and nail polish on construction paper; Lápiz, marcador y esmalte en paper de construcción. Author’s Note Expand A shelter counselor asked me to imagine a tree growing from my heart, and I saw this image. New growth on top but no roots yet. Copyright Credit: “Un imagen de mi mamá” by…
Read MoreHeart Tree
Susan Author’s Note Expand A shelter counselor asked me to imagine a tree growing from my heart, and I saw this image. New growth on top but no roots yet. Copyright Credit: “Heart Tree” by Susan from Survival & Beyond: A Survivor Anthology, Issue 1 / Spring 2024 (Safe Passage, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by…
Read MoreBefore I Walk Away
Kimberley Hughes There are some answers I need to know Are you willing to be the man we need? Will you really miss me when I go? Did you truly love me or just the convenient things that I do? Have you ever put me first or only thought of you? Have you bothered to…
Read MoreI swim, I am free
Mario Luis Cardozo In-between waters Bound rectangularly, I swim & am free. Scar on my back —Phantom tumor— Underlines resentment. Stroke excises venom —One drop or tear— Across my clipped wing. I am fat: Parallelepiped Swallowing chlorine. I am tired. I am out, Soaked and drunk. I whisper timidly: …
Read MoreTwo Poems (Anonymous)
Anonymous One My side hurts fingertips to shoulders are velvet opera gloves heat shimmies up leg (predator’s hands under my skirt). Two Someone told me to trigger-warn my life for them, Interrupted me and told me I needed to trigger-warn my life for them, as if hearing of the violation and my resistance to the…
Read MoreTwo Pieces (Anonymous)
Anonymous My Baby Girl When I was small and people would ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’d say, “A mommy.” That was my goal ever after – even after I had a rewarding career. When the time came, I couldn’t conceive. So we adopted. The…
Read MoreFour Poems (R. Joseph Rodríguez)
R. Joseph Rodríguez She’s Gone My mother’s gone to be among the women. Sisters accompany her in moments like these. Father’s furies and fists left her black and blue. What’s she to do quarterless in the Kroger parking lot? The children cry and plead. Father’s immune to them. In fact,…
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