By Alexis Scarbro We met on the church grounds; she was mousey, her body looked stringy enveloped in baggy, vintage, polyester clothes of rusty orange, beige, and yellow. Her brown hair was dull, her skin had the pallor of a potato, and her hard, dark eyes peeked out of tiny slits; I did not trust
Parking Lot Convert Read More »
A story of childhood trauma by Alexis Scarbro We moved to the middle of nowhere in Powassin, Ontario, Canada when I was six years old. Dad said we’d like it, we could drive to the dump nearby on Fridays, and watch the bears eat the garbage. We had land to explore all around us, and
When I was a child, they didn’t tell me that my body is part of the earth; that it is a machine, literally. It creates a lubrication to keep its parts from burning up, uses data for processing and stores it like a computer, and runs on broken and functioning loops. Cartoons surely never
What They Didn’t Tell Me About, While Growing Up Read More »
Seems redundant, might I say even merciless to see someone experiencing pain… I mean, imagine, a war so terrible someone has been harmed and you cannot see the bruising yet –do you say to them, “Get up! You’re not hurt. This isn’t even that bad! You’re really bringing me down, I’m ashamed of you. How
A war torn soldier Read More »
The past four weeks have been dunking me. I’m stepping into college again, working away at that degree. It’s nearly mine. I’m taking one course that’s kicking my ass in a good way. It’s Non-Fiction Creative Writing. I took it on a whim right at the last moment because my counselor suggested I wrap up
Back in elementary/72 hour challenge Read More »
I rested as an ova within an outer egg-cell package, unformed and whole at the same time, resting deep within; my grandmother was a teenager. She was shy. Her father was rough, stern; he made her read and memorize bible verses with her siblings, if they didn’t do it good enough they were whipped on
My Generational Thoughts Read More »
December 14, 2020 I’ve reached the downs. I’m rather low these days. It’s a New Moon, like my long ago, dog’s name. I’m feeling really awful this morning. Tightness in my chest. Tightness all over.. like I’m waiting for bad news. Like I know bad news is on the way, or I’m bringing bad news
A Nervous Breakdown Diversion Read More »
In the middle of a documentary on normalizing, HUMANIZING death… I was seeing the footage of the NICU and watching moms cling to the lives of their little babies. It set me into a torrent of tears. The flooding of memories from the day I rushed to the hospital with my baby. We were swiftly
*Trigger Warning* Contains talk of death, Neonatal emergency care, NICU, and suffrage Read More »
“The mother wound can be defined as your mother not being emotionally attuned and available to you as a child. She may have been present physically but emotionally absent. There could be a multitude of reasons for it.”
Last night my ex-husband and father of our 8 children called on a video chat. He and our daughters were laughing and sharing silly drawings, only to have him ask everyone to gather –including me and the older ones if they were around. I felt a cold drop in my belly. Was this where he
