X/Ex by Suha Salaitah

Rip off my shirt Look closely at the scar on my chest Look into my eyes And into my dead soul My once beating heart has escaped The cubicle that is its cell Look deeper Search through the flickering neurons For what is left in me that cares Tread carefully through the ice Be cautious …

Protected: X/Ex by Delilah

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

X/Ex by Areej Ahmad

Summer has started. As I leave for work, I remember to take a bottle of body spray to leave in my car. As I walk out the door, my husband asks why. I explain that I spray a little after being in the car cause it cools me off. We say our goodbyes and I’m …

X/Ex by Sara Pearce

1. They say X is dead. I heard it on the radio and sat in the shower crying for an hour under ice cold water. No money for heat, my bones are dry and my heart dust. Oh god Why? X is dead. What are we supposed to do now? 2. My parents raised me …

X/Ex by Yazan Abu Zaid

Exhale A tall, fair woman with strawberry blond bangs and ripped jeans slouched at the door of her shop where the object of my infatuation stood. It was a huge inflatable giraffe. It was shorter than my short shopkeeper but to my three year old eyes it seemed life sized. I begged mother for it. …

X/Ex by Hashem Al-Assad

Zero or Negative Impact: Career Clutter Causing an Existentialist Crisis Introduction: This piece outlines the questions that caused a major decline in my career motivation that is reflected in my January 2018 letter. It doesn't include the answer/potential answers that I arrived at. It doesn't include how the situation improved since January. An upcoming piece …

X/Ex by Shadya Abu Naim

I start at my reflection when it’s over. My sister, impatient as ever, crosses her arms and taps her feet as she casually wields her scissors behind me. “Don’t whine,” she says. Don’t whine. At least half of my hair is gone. My hair, which once fell to my lower back, now stops quite abruptly …

X/Ex by Joely Thomas

Roulette It’s fitting, I always thought, that you should choose roulette. Of all the games to play, you choose the one that ebbs and flows that spins and slows that lands only by chance no skill involved, the ball almost hypnotic as it passes by ‘til pulled off course and, as if undecided by its …

X/Ex by Dana Shalabi

The Ex She walked away from their last conversation believing that she had no other choice. After all, he cheated and there was nothing left to be said. He begged and pleaded for another chance but his attempts to be forgiven were only met with her silence. He texted, he called, and he emailed, but …

Machine by Suha Salaitah

Mutant Machines Awaken awaken from your deep and endless slumber Rattle the bells, shake the halls, sounds of thunder A babe cries Sirens wail from a distance Debris of human suffering Flirting with the shy wind Cities of green or Concrete jungles? Humans or machines, Bones or steel? Oil that burns Cities that crumble Human …