I never thought I would be diagnosed with a serious mental illness, not in my worst nightmares or wildest dreams. I never thought I would write a book about my struggle, and I certainly never thought so many people would be so gracious, receptive, kind, and willing to help. I never thought I would live …
A collection of poems and essays celebrating all the glorious, gorgeous, empowered sisters of my soul. The survivors, rebels, outcasts, lightning rods, and quiet heroines.
For the tough as nails warrior women, I have adored, aspired, and admired. You have made me feel worthy of the sweet, soft miracle it is to be born a girl, in these fast and loud, masculine modern times.
I have always felt safest underwater. My fondest memories are childhood summers spent at home with my strong, capable, joyful father sitting in a chair counting laps. He would be happy to just sit, and count well into adulthood. I knew he was there, waiting, whenever I came up for air, lingering a moment too …
The Highway Halfway Mark I wonder, I do. I cannot help but wonder what’s down the road from the place I have ever truly called home. The wood and grass and nails and bolts, the wet familiar dew smells and giggling baby sounds. The joy and the sorrow. I can’t help but observe and wonder. The funny, peculiar, crooked …
To steal all that was pure and innocent Before she had the chance to experience All the changing shapes of her body The first kiss, crush, giddiness, and her exploding sexuality Making her feel dirty and ashamed Carrying secrets that did not belong to her Not yet a woman, barely a girl, and merely a …
There comes a point in life when you must accept the reality and the gift that is the passage of time. While I know in my heart, our time grows shorter and shorter I can’t help but be bitchy, mean, selfish and lose my patience daily. I have not been the easiest child. The woman …
Host Amalia Natalio Colyer of KarmicKindness conversation with Guest Author Jackie Cioffa: SS: The Manic Mind (Episode 2: Part 2) Soul-Full Sessions Listen on Apple Podcasts Part 2 of a captivating conversation with Jackie Cioffa about what brought her to The Red Bench (literally and figuratively), the stigma around mental illness and what we can do to foster …
Kindness and self-confidence become the noose around my neck in a shallow world filled with self-absorbed, self-obsessed, fear-fueled desperate “look at me” cries for attentionGuiltyI try not to dwell on the fake realities, about you and him and her in their filtered out of focus world, as redundant images scroll past my screenAnd an overwhelming, …
Feminine Divine Dear God, I haven’t been talking to you much. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I lost my faith for a long while. I lost myself, too. I forgot I was your perfect creation. I forgot the privilege it is to be female. I forgot I was able to create life, to make …
Battered & Abused Yet you still chose to Rise A man you thought you knew wore an ugly disguise Teeth kicked out your mouth what an ugly demise Battered & Abused Yet you still chose to Rise Through the ashes and the pain You changed Filled with Rage Of a Woman Trying to protect her …