2023 — MEMOIR — Split Lip Magazine

Tidewrack

It was two months after Mum died. I would not meet anyone. I would not answer messages. I would not talk about my feelings. I didn’t want to chat. I didn’t want people. I didn’t want feelings.

memoir, 2023SLMDecember 14, 2023Michael Bird

Williamstown, Summer 2003

Famous was a matter of time. We inhaled stardust and pollen in the sweltering heat of Massachusetts June, summer theatre. A cicada finale played as the curtain of dusk descended over green hillocks nightly, an audience of mountains darkening in the distance, fireflies our dimming footlights.

memoir, 2023SLMNovember 14, 2023Michael Todd Cohen

If You Want to Know What You’re Made Of

First, it’s just a log you keep in the back of your diary. Novelty. Dates you’ve gotten stoned with friends in the neighborhood: Elly on the electric box, Billy and Sara at the Grove, first period behind the school cafeteria.

memoir, 2023SLMOctober 14, 2023Jennifer Battisti

Valentine’s Day

Last Valentine’s Day, I got six tattoos I did not want.

The six dots formed a constellation, a guide around my breast for the radiation I would receive.

memoir, 2023SLMSeptember 14, 2023Elizabeth Koster

GRAY RAINBOW

I’m more uncomfortable when Jake strides past the server and secures a table for two—the best seats. Late, and the rooftop is nearly empty. Downtown yawns before us. The St. Louis Arch frowns.

memoir, 2023SLMJune 14, 2023Crystal Odelle

In the Sunrise Hour

In the hour before the rays of the sun find the face of Grandfather Mountain, everything is still. The birds wait somewhere high above, dew hovers over lush grass, and the sky seems close enough to touch.

memoir, 2023SLMMay 14, 2023Cassie Mattheis

With Flowers

I’ve tried to tell this story before. Let me try again. This time with flowers.

My mother died on Mother’s Day. It’s nearly impossible for me to comprehend, because she was my mother.

memoir, 2023SLMApril 14, 2023Kimaya Diggs

Money

Give me a quarter for every one of those women who goes to India to learn what yoga does for her body, a dollar for every one that says, I don’t mind taking a tour, but can we rent a car with an AC?

memoir, 2023SLMMarch 14, 2023Geetha Iyer

eat your feelings

I wanted to redact. I’m not sure when redact. Just as I find myself stumbling through nearly every therapy session, despite my efforts to write about anything or anyone else, I can’t obscure this truth: my mother is sick, and I have to come to terms with it.

memoir, 2023SLMFebruary 14, 2023Grace Dunbar-Miller

Two Immigrants

A few summers ago, on the final day of a cycling trip from Lisbon to Seville, I stopped in a small village to wait out the hottest part of the day. It was the siesta hour of deserted streets and shuttered shops.

memoir, 2023SLMJanuary 14, 2023Ajay Makan