shift pain into power - then back into pain - Imaan Asim pages 9

but instead - writing overwhelms me tirelessly these words my suffering and my liberation stitching up the dagger in my mind with ellipses and dashes as i destroy everything i once was taking the first step to shift pain into power evolution and recreation

this is the only way to survive to spin old lies into new ones pretend life is a moving prayer a poetic act of worship a sacred revelation art reborn

so i say i’ve been blessed with rage with beauty and pain i tell myself cannot be weak no longer drown in the deep no more suffocating within my body lifting the veil to reveal the sinister perfection of an empty, hollow, shallow throat

writing tears me apart limb by limb her fury is agonosing engulfing every inch of me yet i continue to write i write, i write, i write.

Childhood, revisited by Ana Rosales (any pronouns)

It’s easy to forget how far I’ve come as an artist while constantly comparing myself to others, but this old crayon drawing from 2000-something reminded me.

I knew Younger Me would be totally amazed by what we can do now, so I decided to re-imagine my old childhood characters with new tools and new knowledge, but the same heart. This piece was made to impress my inner-child, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had with any illustration ever.