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redrosethorns journal
Conscious raising, frequently utilised by feminists, involves individuals sharing their experiences to enhance awareness of social, personal, and political matters. This method has proven highly effective in fostering unity, building communities, and shedding light on broader issues affecting diverse demographics worldwide. It's a means of expressing our identities and experiences, ultimately empowering us.
Inspired by this approach, redrosethorns launched an online journal publication aimed at facilitating conversations about mental health, gender, sexuality, self-care, and empowerment.
ISSN: 2978-5316 (online)
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An Ode to Women in Art
Your truth,
Bathed in the essence - of everything not you,
To you I see in my dreams -
Of wanting to brush away tears,
Of wanting to follow your curves,
Of wanting you that’s without payment,
Olivia Mahabir
Sep 26, 20251 min read
Conquering the Grand Canyon with My Uncle in My Heart
In the Grand Canyon, the warm, multi-colored, rocky canyon walls loomed above me with a terrifying and enticing presence. I was an ant, one of over a billion tiny parts of the magnificent canyon. Really, I was a guest. I embarked on an REI Level Five (the most advanced level) all-women backpacking trip, descending and ascending the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with my guides and the other participants.
Jenna Hensel
Sep 26, 202512 min read
Blessed
I’m sewing the letter-sounds together, letting the meanings fall
like feathers under our feet, the people floating free as seeds, as the brave gracious dead who love me, as perfect words out there somewhere,
enforced solitude a prayer unbroken
Carolyn Steinhoff
Sep 26, 20252 min read
As If I Was my Own Guru, I Tell Myself
we all make mistakes
keep going - laugh at it all
use as many tricks as possible
speed up the troubling scenario
bleach out the colour and make it small
ascribe all the rôles to different animals
Janina Aza Karpinska
Sep 26, 20251 min read
Crazy Eights
There’s nothing more magnificent
than the number eight, a sign
of infinity, of everything is nothing
but a dizzying loop, a swirling
Jenny Morelli
Sep 26, 20252 min read
Apple Juice
When I get a whiff of apple juice, I’m instantly transported back to kindergarten and Miss Kaufman and the little snack wagon I got to pull down the hallway from cafeteria to classroom.
Jenny Morelli
Sep 26, 20252 min read
Feral Female
Shut up and stay still,
you fucking tease
is the haunting taunt
I’ve lived with for years,
an unrelenting refrain
I’ve endured for decades.
Jenny Morelli
Sep 26, 20252 min read
Triumph
What powerful weapons
words can be. When used just right,
they can topple the grandest
and most ignorant leaders.
For example, the word trump
derived from triumph
Jenny Morelli
Sep 26, 20251 min read
The Ink Pen
Filling the soul, my gift is my
love
from the heart
from the tip of a pen
Danny P. Barbare
Sep 26, 20251 min read
Umberto’s Echoes
I no longer think it sinful
to indulge passionately
in recollection.
I no longer find it foolish
to indulge in passion
Lynn White
Sep 26, 20251 min read
No Pride in Prejudice
There is no prejudice in Pride
and no pride in prejudice.
Lynn White
Sep 26, 20251 min read
My Lost Mother
One winter day, when I was six years old, I realized that I hadn’t seen my mother for several hours. I searched our small home several times, asking my father, sister, and brother multiple times if they had seen her leave the house, and did everything I could, with increasing franticness, to find her. I was worried, for despite being a small child, my mother’s frequent, bitter battles with my dad and older brother, bouts of crying for no apparent reason, tendency to stay in b
Marguerite Schneider
Aug 27, 20258 min read
Tears Of Laughter
I’m Not Crying, I’m Laughing
My Tears Are Used To Come Out Anytime
Today I’m Not In Misery Nor Grief
I’m Not Crying, I’m Laughing
Believer Musa Waterson
Aug 27, 20251 min read
Love At First Sight
I Saw You
Deep Into Your Eyes,
You Were Brave
I Couldn’t Greet You
I Couldn’t Handle You
I Stuttered Professionally
Believer Musa Waterson
Aug 27, 20251 min read
A Secret for a Secret
With a bottle of cranberry juice tucked under her arm, Laura plucked a box of urinary tract health supplements from the shelf in the family planning aisle of Walmart Neighborhood Market. Her bladder protested as she read the back of the box. She’d woken up with a UTI—again—and spent the morning chugging water and pissing like a fire hydrant, but it still burned, and she still didn’t have the money to spend on an urgent care visit for antibiotics and a lecture on proper wiping
Emily Babbitt
Aug 27, 20255 min read
Swallowtail
In western North Carolina, the world outside the dharma center became muted, and life was feeling slo-mo. My body was sore from four days of meditating several times daily. The simple, delicious meals felt like luxury, and sleeping was a welcome respite from the hard work of calming the mind.
In the dorm, several twin beds were set against the wall with dividers like a linear honeycomb, each cell with a shelf, fan, and several hooks.
Maria Gelabert
Aug 27, 20254 min read
The Diagnosis
Driving to Trout Lake, Washington, with my husband, I relied on anticipation to carry me past my fatigue. Making sense of the recently identified origins of this exhaustion was still a work in progress. But I didn’t want my lack of oomph to sideline this trip. Good thing I was an old pro at doing-things-while-depleted. We stopped for lunch at a small-town, old-timey diner that made me wish for longer sleeves to cover my arm tattoos.
Katrina Irene Gould
Aug 27, 20257 min read
Last Wishes
Please bring my shoes, he reminds me,
I’ll need them when we go home.
He must know in that secret, unspeakable
way that he won’t see home again.
Sharon Scholl
Aug 27, 20251 min read
Wish Logic
Dear You (the One Who Pretends to Be the Grown-Up),
I think I was made from dandelions—
those yellow puffballs that aren’t flowers
but still try their best to bloom.
I used to blow on them and make wishes.
Now I mostly just hold my breath.
Holly Brazzle
Aug 27, 20252 min read
The Jungle: Risks of Contact
What happens when our deepest human impulse—the hunger to discover, to learn, to connect—becomes the very force that could destroy what we seek to understand? In the heart of the Amazon, where uncontacted tribes guard ancient wisdom behind walls of deliberate isolation, this question cuts deeper than a machete through jungle vines.
Barrie Brewer
Jul 30, 20255 min read
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