Taking it back….

The archives remember kings
because kings built the archives

our names survived in fragments
stitched into the hems of uniforms
pressed into recipe books
buried inside letters no historian thought to unfold carefully

they called us muses
wives
witches
madwomen
assistants

anything but architects

for centuries they edited us down
cut us from photographs
quoted our work without saying our names
turned our bodies into evidence
our anger into diagnosis
our exhaustion into character flaws

they built entire institutions
out of the belief
that we would stay grateful for the corners

but something is changing now

you can feel it in the classrooms
in the courtrooms
in group chats that turn into movements before dawn
in daughters who no longer apologise before speaking
in women comparing notes
and suddenly realising the pain was never personal

we are recovering each other
like lost cities beneath water

there is fury in it
but also tenderness

the kind born when someone says
I thought I was alone in this

and another voice answers
you were never alone
they just worked very hard to keep us separate

now the old language is cracking

the words that kept us small
hysterical
difficult
too emotional
too ambitious
too loud

they no longer fit properly

we are outgrowing them

there are women alive right now
learning to take up space without apology
without shrinking their brilliance
without softening their edges into something more acceptable

women rebuilding themselves from the historical record outward

women who understand that survival was never the final goal

we did not endure centuries merely to remain decorative

we are returning to ourselves

not quietly
not perfectly
not all at once

but together

and that changes everything

JH

We Never Know

We didn’t know we were the dead
we didn’t know we were the dying;
the world seemed bright the
summer gladly ground towards fall and
we could not know we
danced in bars in the evenings and
saw the mountain shimmer, shimmer,
we didn’t know this was the past
we did not know of
pyroclastic ash,
we never know we’re in
history,
we never know we are the dead.

Today on my blog, this month's poem:

"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton

https://zenmischief.com/2026/05/this-months-poem-17/

#poetry #May #blog #zenmischief

I am so socially burnt out.

I am so socially burnt out.

I am so socially burnt out.

Emerson and I are fine, but I am having to crisis manage for other people and a bunch of strangers are DMing me every day and I don’t know what to do with my life anymore. To be clear, I am not angry with anyone who’s DMing me or calling me, just very tired and overwhelmed and dealing with very low social battery.

My phone was on vibrate for a while, but it’s on Absolute Shut The FUCK Up Mode again so I don’t chuck the damn thing into Lake Michigan next time it wakes me up.

Picture me screaming into a virtual pillow, because this is how I feel.

It is sleep time for crippled introverts.

-Allēna

#fatigue #noRestForTheWickedIGuess #overwhelm #SliceOfLife

#fatigue #noRestForTheWickedIGuess #overwhelm #SliceOfLife

One Poet to Another

«Here, Nigel Jerome Byng reflects on his collaboration with Joni Karen Caggiano, the editor who helped shape and elevate his poetry manuscript through a deeply involved and emotionally attuned creative process.»


One Poet to Another


And along came Joni Caggiano. I had just finished my poetry manuscript in the autumn of last year, and was quite happy to sit on it for a bit, review, refine, and make it presentable in my own good time, when Joni reached out to check on how I was healing from my eye injury. I mentioned that I was working on some poetry, and, always supportive, she asked, “Would you be so kind to read me one of your poems?” I did, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Almighty meets you on your journey once you have decided to align yourself with your purpose.

Joni volunteered to edit the collection, and what followed was an intense month of communication. There were long hours of exploring the intent and meaning behind every line and verse, and the clip around the ear when procrastination was hugging the space. Joni’s rigorous feedback, delivered with patience and understanding, helped me deconstruct my emotions and refine my manuscript. Joni was emotionally invested in the process, and that meant the world to me.

“… a soulful palette only a talented artist can fashion…”

Having worked with editors before, I found this experience to be quite different. Usually, it is never as involved. It is always a very detached, sanitized environment, where the only connection between writer and editor is the task at hand. The best editors were the ones who understood the writer’s intent and vision for a piece, and vice versa, and this understanding would often lead to a project delivery that surpassed expectations.

A week before Christmas, we both decided that the piece was ready to be submitted to a publisher. The right of first refusal was offered to Michelle Navajas and her team. After two days of evaluating the work, they accepted that the manuscript was good enough to be included in their 2026 portfolio.   

Working with Joni elevated my collection to a standard I could be proud of, and the experience taught me invaluable lessons.

To encapsulate the journey we shared and the emotions woven into this collection, Joni offered her reflections in poetic form. Her words are a tribute to our collaboration. They also celebrate her undiminished pride in the work I chose to share with the world in “The Drifter The Prodigal The Last Son.”


Thank you so much, Joni.

 

The poem: “Winds blow specks of sand in layers across dunes.  In visionary patterns, like vocal harmonies, they rise and fall like the sea.  Time dances, stands alone in silence, shrouded in tears, heartbreak, and shifts in memory.  Art draws breath as only a unique, sensitive mortal can bring an orchestration of beauty to life.   Words hum, and pages flow, ushering forth an array of sections that breathe and span a soulful palette only a talented artist can fashion.  This was the impassioned body of a long-cherished dream, and I was honored to be an editor.  Nigel Jerome Byng’s debut collection is a tribute to those grains of sand on which a talented poet and storyteller walks.”   


Joni Karen Caggiano

 

Joni Karen Caggiano is an internationally published author, poet, and photographer. Her debut poetry book, “One Petal at A Time,” (Prolific Pulse Press, LLC) was an Amazon bestseller. She is a three-time Pushcart Nominee and 2024 Best of The Net Nominee. Joni is a

regular contributor to Hotel Masticadores and has collectively contributed to four additional

Masticadores Magazines. On Spillwords, she won Socialite of the Year 2023, 2024, and

Publication of the Month for November 2022 and June 2024, and has been a regular contributor

for five years. Joni’s work appears in a dozen anthologies. Her website is https://the-inner-

child.com.