Stacey Mataxis Whitlow (SMW)
Bio
Welcome to my brain. My daydreams are filled with an unquenchable wanderlust, and an unrequited love affair with words haunts my sleepless nights. I do some of my best work here, my messiest work for sure. Want more? https://a.co/d/iBToOK8
Achievements (9)
Stories (83)
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What the Fire, the Body, and the Earth Remember:
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This poem centers on witness and endurance — the emotional steadiness of holding historical truth without spectacle or release. It feels calm but heavy. It is not trying to feel anything. It is trying to hold something relevant through another storm.
By Stacey Mataxis Whitlow (SMW)7 days ago in Poets
The First Puzzle
I always think of you anytime I pass by a puzzle, which happens far more often than one would expect once you start paying attention, because puzzles live low to the ground, tucked into thrift store shelves and grocery aisles, hidden near the floor like offerings meant for those willing to bend, and I never mean the metaphorical kind, never the philosophical or rhetorical puzzles people like to admire for their cleverness, but the actual, physical, cut-cardboard kind, the kind that belongs to hands and tables and time.
By Stacey Mataxis Whitlow (SMW)9 days ago in Fiction
An Instruction Manual for Keeping Your Child Alive:. Content Warning.
Author’s Note This story contains references to childhood trauma and a parent’s experience supporting a child through recovery, including moments of emotional crisis. The focus is not on graphic detail, but on a family’s survival, vigilance, and the quiet, ongoing work of caregiving.
By Stacey Mataxis Whitlow (SMW)22 days ago in Fiction
