Editor’s Note:
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading issue 2! You will find fabulous stories, essays, art, hybrids, and poetry about chronic illnesses, disabilities, and mental health. As always, I am always astounded by the talent in the writing community. Somehow, I find that a lot of pieces align with each other, as if they were written together, but it’s funny how life works out like that!
I once was told that different forms of art can tell a story, and I believe it with this issue! You’ll find a mix of the triumphs, the challenges, and everything in between when it comes to chronic illness, disabilities, and mental health conditions. I hope you enjoy.
If you’re feeling generous, please donate to our GoFundMe page! We’ve recently reached $100, and we want to keep growing so that we can pay creators in the future!
And if you’re feeling really generous, I have a tip jar! With any donations, I can add more to FLARE to make it an even better platform.
Sincerely,
Kelly Esparza (she/her)
Editor-in-Chief of FLARE Magazine
Poetry
- Amy K. Genova – “Swoop”
- Brinna Rogers – “C-PTSD”
- Claudia Wysocky – “Paper Birds”
- Dana Gricken – “My Biggest Enemy”
- Elizabeth Kolar – “Surreal” and “Villain”
- Jer Hayes – “My body, the liar”
- Katie Larson – “THIS SHIMMERING NOTHING” and “Mirrors Are Tricky Things”
- Maria Zafar – “I Eat My Yellow Paint Too”
- Nate Ritchie – “The Things I Miss” and “For the Love of Boring”
- Oisín Rowe – “No Sun Summer”
- Paula Macena – “Personalization”
- Rania Omar – “I Want to Smile From My Socks”
- Sofía Aguilar – “my therapist is breaking up with me”
- Tula Francesca – “Rose”
- Wren Donovan – “Spring Health Report (With Apologies to Eliot’s Ghost)”
Flash Fiction
- Alice Lyon – “1 p.m. on a Sunday”
- Gail Brown – “I Don’t Mean You”
- Katie Collan – “Perception”
- Laurie Doyle – “Scales”
- Nikki Flynn – “A New Body”
- Raiya Shaw – “At a Crossroads”
- Zary Fekete – “Grackle”
Hybrid/Experimental
- Isobel Bradshaw – “On Atrophy”
- Katie Larson – “Sick Girl”
Creative Nonfiction (CNF)
- Amber Budd – “The Hunger”
- Courtney Welu – “I Only Believe in God When I Have a Headache”
- JB Polk – “Fifty Shades of Grief”
- Nicole Zelniker – “Sliding Scale”
- Wendy Kennar – “Am I a Spoonie?”
Art
- Cathy McGuire – “Someone Feels Better”
- Claudia Wysocky – “3 Photographs – Untitled”
- Ellen Forkin – “Ernogh the Goblin,” “Always Nap-Time Goblin,” “The Easily-Exhausted Jofferhup”
- Irina Tall (Novikova) – “Her Eyes, Like the Eyes of a Stork,” “They and Books,” and “Dream”
- R – “Unknown Loops”
Thank you for reading Issue 2!
Social media highlights will start on Saturday, April 26th!