Those moving on to the next round will be announced April 1st (voting starts April 1st and ends May 1st at 11:59pm ET)
If you don’t see your submission posted on the site yet, it doesn’t mean anything. We are still going through submissions. Please check back April 1st.
Our winners will be announced May 3rd
Those moving on to the next round will be announced April 1st (voting starts April 1st and ends May 1st at 11:59pm ET)
Our winners will be announced May 3rd
I wanted to tell someone but I couldn’t .
A child in her quiet bed with the hand across her mouth.
Trying to scream, to run, only to find myself bound by the fear of being heard.
Blame
Blaming myself for all that I couldn’t change.
Blaming and banging my fists against a chest begging to stop. But no-one hears me.
Not a single soul.
Ti…read more
It’s quite humorous that I write to you; considering how many times I’ve cursed out your name. However, maybe it’s time for one of us to introduce ourselves, and knowing how mysterious and nuanced you can be, I’ll go first for a change. Maybe you’ve heard from the wind or through the grapevine by my street about my weaknesse…read more
She has an aura that shines so bright you’d never know that she cries at night. Recovering from her childhood traumas those mostly based from her mama. She’s trying so hard to be the best mama. Hard to imitate what she never had, sometimes it makes her very sad. Yet still she marches on and on, working hard to give her son what she never had. Eve…read more
In my deepest heart, I know that there is a story waiting to be told. It has its setting, its essence, its origins. It stands in the waiting room of my inner consciousness, patiently, until I am able or willing to unearth its glorifying resonance.
The feelings that I bottle up inside are deep, spacious, like the bottom of a…read more
I am strong because everyday I decide to keep walking the rocky unpaved path ahead of me. I walk, crawl, and sometimes I stop altogether. I sit and look around and wonder how to move beyond the obstacles in front of me. The fallen tree limbs and deep mud puddles block my path while soft rain soaks my skin through to the bone. These…read more
What makes me strong is my intention and commitment to be so. My life wasn’t easy;I had many things to overcome from childhood to the majority of me being an adult. I let those things consume me. I checked out mentally, relying on addiction to the point half my life slipped away. I missed things I couldn’t get back, and changed relationships bec…read more
My body was failing
As my skin was paling.
Unknown illnesses had crept in,
Doctors were unable to sort through the din.
Turns out their efforts to help had harmed
There was no way to take out what they put in my arm.
A decade goes by with ups and downs
Smiles and frowns
And a life undone and pieced back together.
Trying to look normal while…read more
If someone ask – what makes me strong so I would say “experience” in one word but there are lot of things which made me strong throughout the years. I learnt so many things in my school, college, offices, etc., sometimes it was good experience which gave me a different confidence to do better next time and sometimes it was bad experience due to…read more
Strength. Often associated with physicality.
As human beings, are we not more than our physical bodies?
Do we not have moments of pure emotion that engulf our minds from time to time in this life?
Strength. Often associated with physicality, not limited to it.
Mental chatter- it can get LOUD.
So loud that the body at times fights submission to…read more
Honestly, I’m not sure. Compared to my ancestors my idea of strength feels like a joke. I was in the air jordan flight club when I was like 6 years old and had a water bed. That sounds totally gross to me to compare myself to someone who survived World War I or II, or the holocaust, or was a slave to the Crown of England and survived the…read more
I cannot keep standing with you,
waiting with you,
crawling with you,
trying with you,
and dying with you…
while you continue to throw stones at the pillars of my strength,
while you continue to hurl your crumbled burdens deep into my soul,
while you continue to stick your daggers dipped with venom deep into the roots of my spirit.
For it…read more
Strong. The men in my life are strong. They lift weights and go to the gym. They take in the cases of bottled water and the heavy jugs of cat litter. They move the furniture and carry in the Christmas Tree. They do the heavy lifting.
Strength holds heavy things.
Wait. Let me reframe that. Strength holds heavy things.
Who are you? To tell me it too late
The Epitome of destruction from all the weight
What do we truly gain from the gaping pain
Questions are for why we pray
To try to fill the blank space
That space was filled with all sorts of rage
But it soon realized the lesson today
We can’t change the past of the mistakes we’ve made
Don’t worry you’l…read more
Dear Fear,
This letter is to inform you that I will not voluntarily bow down to you anymore because I AM
STRONG!
This does not mean that I don’t see you at every turn, every step, every waking moment,
because I do. It means you will no longer rule my life.
I AM STRONG due to countless hours of you draping over me like a coarse blanket and I d…read more
The orange in the black of dawn is rising now as I quickly remind you that you are my best friend forever. The smell of my cookies are trailing into my nostrils and I wish you were here to eat some. I am so grateful for your time spent with me.
You probably remember how I love to ride my bike. I was paying close attention yesterday as…read more
I was born into the name Strong.
Quite the name to live up to.
Growing up I was lanky and skinny,
So, kids would make fun of me and say I was the opposite:
Weak.
Physically I didn’t live up to the namesake,
And emotionally it was not much different.
I cried a lot.
My mother would always tell me to grab a tissue and stop.
But the tears flowed…read more
It seems I forgot how to let the
prospect of beauty
in its purest,
rawest
form
fall graciously into
my subconscious mind…
Yes, the place where light liquidates,
Where neurons shoot and transmute
To fill dark holes and dusty spaces
I figured I have no one else to blame
but myself
for when it gets too dark.
It is I w…read more
I know you may feel weak at times, but in those moments I want you to remember what makes you strong. It’s your ability to create beauty out of pain. To find wisdom in the aches. And fill the empty spaces of my broken heart with love. What makes you strong is the way you allow yourself to fall apart and break. What makes you strong is the way y…read more