Editor’s Note:
Dear Reader,
Thank you for stopping by! This is the last main issue of 2025, so it’s a little bittersweet because FLARE has grown so much in such little time. When starting this literary journal in January 2025, I wanted a place to learn about how others deal with chronic illnesses, disabilities, and mental health so that it could help me work through my own grief/mental health with living with a chronic illness. I had absolutely no idea FLARE would take off as much as it has, and I’m eternally grateful for everyone who has read, shared, and submitted to this literary magazine.
If you hope to support FLARE Magazine but don’t know how, I will list some ways!
First, of course, reading and sharing these issues via social media and word of mouth help a lot! I’ll always hear how someone found FLARE through a friend or a Facebook group or somewhere else! Each issue, new submitters find FLARE, and I love that!
Second, I want to pay writers and artists. Being sick and/or disabled can make it hard to make money (I get it), and often, literary magazines are made up of volunteers (including me–I do not get paid for what I do here). However, I want to change this, with small steps to begin, of course. So, that’s why I have started a GoFundMe page for FLARE, in which any donations count! I also created a merch store that sells merch about chronic illnesses, disabilities, and mental health on Redbubble. ALL proceeds go toward paying creators in the future. In fact, I hope to host my first writing contest in 2026! Often, writing contests cost a reading fee that submitters have to pay, but I don’t want to do this. I hope to fundraise the award money; that way, I don’t have to pay out-of-pocket or make submitters pay. I want submissions to always be free.
Lastly, I’ve had people ask me how they can best support me. While, of course, it’s so not necessary (this is a passion project), I do have a Ko-Fi that I use for medical co-pays, finding more avenues to make FLARE better and pay creators, etc. Currently, what some may not know is I am a one-woman show for FLARE. I do everything from behind-the-scenes, such as editing to social media management to fundraising efforts to formatting/website design to communication within 24 hours always.
In any event, I hope you enjoy this latest issue, and keep your eyes peeled for the special mini issues opening for subs in October and November!
Sincerely,
Kelly Esparza
Editor-in-Chief of FLARE Magazine
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Poetry
- Abel Saldaña – “On Anger”
- Allison Martel – “Psalm of the Chronically Ill”
- Angelica Urquizo – “Desertion”
- Ashley Kirkland – “Migraine”
- Betty Powdrill – “Fine”
- Chris B. – “The Hours”
- Cypher – “When I’m in the Driver’s Seat” and “Rise Again”
- Deanna McFadden – “Who can tell just by looking”
- Faune Vita – “Crohn’s Diary”
- Justine Berezintsev – “Test Results: Normal”
- KM Dunn – “Reasons Why Long Covid Is Not a Lifestyle Choice”
- Lillian Hochwender – “On a Shower Chair”
- Morgan Leanor – “Yellow”
- Patrick G. Roland – “Diffability”
- Rebecca Upton – “Echoes of Hysteria”
- Stephanie Jackson – “If Eggs Are Hope”
- Steven C. Wright – “In lieu of a diagnosis, my doctor tells me to never give up”
- Veronica Sorgi – “The Wanderer”
Flash Fiction/Microfiction
- Alex Pellerin – “The Symptoms Forecast”
- Desirae Gracyn – “Darkness Within”
- Jenny Stalter – “Your Teenage Son Brings Flowers to Your Sickbed”
- Lucien R. Starchild – “The Sky Is Full of Teeth”
- Robin Bissett – “Landlocked”
Creative Nonfiction
- Chloe Glass – “For the Little Girl Inside Me”
- David Elliot Eisenstat – “The Bread of Affliction”
- Jenne Hébert – “Resilience”
- Kristi Joy Rimbach – “Vignette From a Winter’s Day in Which I Cry”
- Olivia J. Bennett – “Bone Spurs and Blueberry Pie”
- Shannon McIntee – “Getting Better Is a Process That Never Ends”
- Travis Flatt – “The Wrong Things Slip Out”
Hybrid/Experimental
- Jodie Whitchurch – “Hammocks and Jade in November: the Deepest, Darkest, Fullest Moon”
- Shelley Lloyd – “User Manual: Operating the Human Body (revised for glitchy functioning)”
Art
- Edward Michael Supranowicz – “Reflections in a Dark River of Night”
- Faune Vita – “Alive,” “Inside,” and “Dilation”
- KJ Hannah Greenberg – “Blessings” and “Cloudscape”
- Kyle Nowak – “Serendipitous Rot” and “Nurture”
- Maudie Bryant – “Untethered” and “Masquerade”
Thank you so much for reading issue 4!
Author/artist spotlights start on August 29th.