Art Lit Club
by Melissa Flores Anderson @theirishmonths
A last-minute invite from the club pres, and I didn’t realize you would be there, too, in the backseat of her mom’s car, smelling of CK One. We sat in darkness, enveloped in plush red seats. You watching, listening, eating Red Vines. Me, breathless and too young for you.
Melissa Flores Anderson edits the Broken Hearts Literary Gallery and collaborates with Roi Fainéant Press. X and Bluesky: melissacuisine
For Better or Worse
by Tracie Adams @tracieadams1966
A beaded dress that weighed more than me, Great Danes in our bed, Sunday afternoon barbeques, chicken skin sizzling with chimichurri, positive pregnancy test, keyboard on the kitchen table, singing off pitch, unanswered calls, sleepless nights, lies, custody papers, moving boxes. It’s the dogs, your sisters, your mother I miss.
Tracie Adams, a retired educator and playwright, is the author of two memoirs, Our Lives in Pieces and Not Finished Yet, and the mom to four kids, six grands, and more animals than she can count. Bluesky @tracieadams X @1funnyfarmAdams Substack @tracieadams
Maybe You’re There, Hidden in the Pink House
by Johannah Simon
Ask her about the drawing. Force a smile when she explains it’s daddy. Ask where mommy is. Choke down your tears when she tells you mommy isn’t in the picture because she’s always at work. Hope one day she’ll understand the sacrifices you made for her.
Johannah Simon is a corporate schemer and professional dreamer. X @JohannahWrites Bsky @Johannah IG @JohannahCanWrite
Broken Hearts Gallery Literary 