Bio: John F. Zurn has been faced with the challenges of bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder for his entire adult life.  Over the years he gradually learned that: medication, physical exercise, meditation and creative writing were vital for his long term recovery. Despite this challenge, he still managed to work as a teacher and counselor for over thirty-five years. Now retired, he has more time to write and publish poems and stories. John was born in upstate New York and has an M.A. in English.  He has been married to his wife, Donna, for over 40 years.

In Search of Some Reality Today I feel like walking out beyond this dreary place. While in this state of living death, my days are all the same. I should leave and make my trek in search of some reality. But I know I would soon turn back or feel the world take…

Bio: Victoria Leigh Bennett, she/her.  Greater Boston, MA area, born WV.  Ph.D., English/Theater.  Website: creative-shadows.com.  In-Print: “Poems from the Northeast,” 2021; OOP but free on website: “Scenes de la Vie Americaine (en Paris),” [in English], 2022.  Between Fall 2021 & Summer 2023, Victoria will have published at least 39 times in: Fevers of the Mind Poetry & Art, The Hooghly Review, Roi Faineant Literary Press, The Unconventional Courier, Discretionary Love, Amphora Magazine, Barzakh Magazine, The Madrigal Press, Alien Buddha Press, Olympia Publishers, Winning Writers, Cult of Clio. She has been accepted for publication with a short story in October 2023 with The Hooghly Review, & with four poems in November 2023 with Dreich Magazine.  Victoria is the organizer behind the poets’ collective @PoetsonThursday on Twitter along with Dave Garbutt and Alex Guenther.  Twitter: @vicklbennett & @PoetsonThursday.  Mastodon: @vickileigh@mstdn.social & @vickileigh@writing.exchange.  Victoria is ocularly and emotionally disabled.

*Writer’s note: The…

Bio: Stephen Kingsnorth (Cambridge M.A., English & Religious Studies), retired to Wales, UK from ministry in the Methodist Church due to Parkinson’s Disease, has had pieces published by on-line poetry sites, printed journals and anthologies, including Fevers of the Mind.  He has, like so many, been a nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. His blog is at https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/

Stephen’s work can be found in anthologies from us including “The Poetica Sisterhood of Sylvia & Anne” and “The Whiskey Mule Diner Poetry & Art inspired by Tom Waits”

Proof

They shared debate around the flames, a glowing fire, domestic shrine, thus sacred turf the site for pitch, that like the peat, the team was sweet, whatever referee had said. These Antrim sods of Ireland, North, that stood, still, watching Bushmills turn, Scotch planted, like the Black and Tans, as coppers in a sentry stance, stir…

It gives me great delight to welcome poet, Samantha Terrell, back to Patricia’s Pen. This visit Samantha blogs about her writing journey. Without further ado, it’s over to Samantha.

My Writing Journey

Samantha Terrell

Thank you very much for your interest in my poetry. I’m honored and humbled by the gracious support of my readers and fellow writers.

To tell a bit about myself, writing has been the one hobby I’ve consistently enjoyed for as long as I can remember. I excelled at creative writing in school, but I also have a heart for social justice. So in university, I earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Sociology and began working in human services. However, I never stopped writing in my free time. Merging my passions was a natural fit, which is why I say my poetry emphasizes self-awareness as a means to social awareness. Eventually, with my…

Bio: : Jeffrey is a journalist, essayist, historian, pessimist, writer & poet. Loves to write sonnets and his favorite writers are John Keats and J.D. Salinger. He also writes short stories and gothic style fiction. He writes non-fiction from growing up outside of Boston in the late 1960’s. He can often be found at coffeehouses, auctions, any book events, Mike Plant’s awesome barbecues in the Summer. R.I.P. to my long time writing friend Roger Crane who taught me everything about Pink Floyd and one of my favorites Queensryche. Oh, and I’ve met actor Michael Easton from One Life to Live and was surprised how nice he was. I’m a huge soap opera fan and a big time fan of the character “Victor Newman” in which I have written about before oddly enough.

Julia’s Dream except it was Jeffrey’s Dream and he dreamt about Roger Waters after drinking too much and…

Train coming in

Bio: Aideen Henry has been published in the Irish Times, the Stinging Fly and broadcast on RTE Radio 1. She was shortlisted for the Hennessy XO Literarys Award, the Francis Mc Manus Award and received a Literature Bursary Award from the Irish Arts Council. Her two collections of poetry, Hands Moving at the Speed of Falling Snow, and Slow Bruise, were published with Salmon Poetry. She is working on her third collection, A Bloodless Field.

Plasticity

Movement carries you 
yet you can’t feel it; 

in your bed
the earth turning as you sleep,

as a babe 
in the clinch of your mother’s arms,

on an elevator, a train 
a plane, once it’s under way, 

in the slow deformation 
of spinal discs as you age,

in a declining marriage 
before anyone discerns.

Family Vault I tell the children I own half the house; their father will…

Introducing the Main Characters in The Oath

Who is Françoise Angélique Dubois?

Françoise is one of the main protagonists in The Oath.

She was born on 23^rd March 1895 at Vue de Jardin in Penketh, a fictional village in France.

She’s a stunning looker with gorgeous emerald eyes and shining long chestnut brown hair that runs loose and wild when blowing in the wind.

When Françoise’s not running carefree through cowslip, she likes to spend time with her best friend, Geneviève, sharing secrets while embroidering cushions.

Françoise’s family are close-knit, with her parents still very much in love. Françoise hopes to find this same kind of happiness when her time comes to take a husband.

Her dreams are shattered on her seventeenth birthday when Papa announces Playtime is over. Seventeen is old enough to wed and bear a child.

Françoise is bound by a one-hundred-year…