The Great Depression Poems

Katherine Kenbly never wanted a mate, and she definitely didn’t want him. On her eighteenth birthday, the mark appeared, binding her to Stephen Magnus, the ruthless Alpha King who destroyed her pack and forced her people to kneel. When she rejected him before the elders, she thought that would be the end, but Stephen didn’t take rejection well. He claimed her anyway, calling it law, calling it fate. Now Katherine is trapped in the palace of her enemy, watched by the man who killed everything she loved. He demands loyalty, but his eyes tell another story, one filled with anger, obsession, and something she doesn’t want to name. “You can hate me all you want, little wolf,” he says, his voice low against her ear, “but you’ll still be mine.” And when the truth about his war comes to light, she’ll wish she never tried to fight fate.

The new intern, Cynthia Joller, had posted about me online, claiming the company had made them use their leave for team building. No one wanted to fly all the way to an island to spend time with colleagues. However, what the internet did not know was that our company's team-building tradition involved booking a top-notch five-star resort every year: all-inclusive, family-friendly, with an extra three days of paid leave, and a $30,000 budget per person. The whole internet dubbed me a cold-blooded capitalist, so I decided to give in to their demands and issued a notice. [In response to employee feedback and to honor personal time, this year's team-building retreat has been canceled. Instead, a $500 allowance for personal travel will be provided.] The notice stirred up a commotion in the company. Long-time employees gathered at my office door, pleading for the return of the sunny Madiles retreat.

I set up a company cafeteria for employees with an abundant meal daily worth 150 dollars per person. Meals are prepared by a world-renowned master chef. Every day, I only ask my employees to contribute a token of one dollar. Instead of gratitude, all I get is their envy of the neighboring company. "I wish we had that. Their healthy lunches cost them nothing, and the company covers everything." "Yeah. Free salads always seem to taste the best." Before long, this chatter spreads through the office, and the new hires carry it into the company's group chat. "Mr. Shaw, can we switch things up? All this rich, heavy food is just too much for us!" A few of the senior employees quickly jump in. "Yes, Mr. Shaw! We're not asking for anything extravagant. We only want something like the healthy lunches the other company gives out for free!" Perfect. They ignore my lavish 150-dollar meals that cost them almost nothing, yet they pine over the neighboring company's modest lunches. I scroll through the chat, feeling nothing but sharp irony. I immediately send a company-wide email. "Attention, everyone! By popular demand, and so you can all experience a truly free lunch, the cafeteria's daily meal is reduced from abundant to simple starting today. "Snacks and fruit options are discontinued and replaced with the same healthy lunch set offered by the neighboring company. The company will cover the full cost. Enjoy your meal!"

On the night of her forced mating ceremony, Elara did the unthinkable. She ran. Promised to the future Alpha of Silvermoon, she thought fate had finally smiled on her. Until her mate, Kael, rejected her in front of the entire pack, trading their bond for a political alliance. Heartbroken and humiliated, Elara disappeared without a trace, vowing never to return. But fate isn’t done with them yet. Years later, a brutal war among the packs forces Elara out of hiding. Injured and desperate, she seeks shelter in the last place she'd ever imagined. Kael’s territory. Except he’s no longer just the cruel heir. He’s Alpha now... and he wants her back. For her safety, she must stay in his home. For her pride, she must guard her heart. But Kael has secrets about the rejection, the night she ran, and the truth behind their bond. Is it too late for a second chance? Or will the Alpha lose the one thing he never knew he needed? Find out in The Run, Little Mate

I was born an Omega, seen as weak and disposable. Three years ago, the Blackfang Pack sold me, thinking I would never return. They were wrong. I came back, scarred but stronger, no longer the girl they discarded but a warrior that every Alpha fears. Lucian Draegor was my mate, the Alpha who let them take me without a word. Everyone fears him, and I used to think fate connected us. Now, I see him as the man who betrayed me. Lucian says I still belong to him, but if he wants me back, he will have to kneel. Kael Thorne, the Alpha of Ironclaw, gave me strength when I had none. He stands by me and will not back down. I didn’t return for love; I came back for revenge. I will make them pay.

Behind every great Queen stands no one; something Miliani Hwang learned from the early age of ten after she was forced to take over the Hwang Family Mafia when her parents died in a murder-suicide. In light of their tragic end, she built herself up from the ground for 11 years, trusting no man to stand behind or even beside her. The sheer sound of her name was enough to have even the toughest men on their knees and despite not ever taking a life with her own hands, everyone in the crime world knew they should never cross The Great Miliani Hwang. It doesn't surprise her when she is betrayed on her 21st birthday but she never expected her own blood to be the mastermind. She flees to Sicily with the help of the Ravello Crime Family, where she learns many secrets about her lineage and starts falling for the smug Vincenzo Ravello. Now a disgraced mob boss with nothing but her name and rage a lingering question lingered in the back of her mind; who was she now if not The Great Miliani Hwang? Vincenzo Ravello, the eldest son of the Ravello Crime Family knew all too well about the dangers that come with his title as heir to the Cosa Nostra. He's spent the past few years of his life reminding his enemies time and time again that he wasn't a man they wanted to mess with. His heart was made of stone and women, to him were nothing more than playthings until her. He would do anything for her. Every Queen needs a King to avenge her and Miliani must learn to trust her heart to stand beside hers because he will burn the whole world until all her enemies bow at her feet.

Sixteen-year-old Rithanya can’t wait to go to boarding school and follow her dream of entering the Armed Forces Medical College. A far cry from the busy city life in her hometown of Bangalore, the strict, rural boarding school has strange rules and a stringent way of life for the students. Rithanya quickly settles in, making friends and enjoying her new life away from her sometimes overbearing family. But it isn’t all fun and games. The hostel food is intolerable and Rithanya starts to feel the pressure of her intense studies. She has terrible nightmares of failing her exams and disgracing her family, and her poor diet isn’t helping. The drudgery of capsuled academic studies, stringent rules, unpalatable food and the rat race for perfection triggers depression and an attack of psychosis of unimaginable magnitude in her mind. Once a bright and carefree girl, she falls into a terrible mental state of overwork and anxiety. Her deteriorating condition is of great concern to her family. Can Rithanya get better and continue her studies, or will the overwhelming pressure and her deteriorating mental health threaten to spoil her future plans?

Tunnels deconstructs the individual’s Romantic fascination with ‘love’ or the grammaticality of beauty. Ideally, the ‘tunnels’ in the collection are subterranean love poems from the suburban imaginary. These seemingly syntactic tunnels travel through one’s literary imagination or heterotopic dreamscapes, and while αγάπη (Greek for ‘love’) inspires these rhizomic tunnels to navigate the abysmal ‘meta-spectacle’ of gesture, language or moment of poemness, the mind like the many-colored jeepneys of Manila, where driving past roast goose restaurants in Shek Kip Mei or spotting stilt houses in Kampong Kleang, attempt to explore the transgeneric textualities of the everyday, alongside the unstructurality of time and space, the littoral and the liminal.

My younger brother told me he was overwhelmed by school stress and had developed depression. I tried to help by encouraging him to seek treatment, drawing from my own experience with the illness. However, my mother blamed me, accusing me of passing the depression onto him. She took me to a witch, who locked me in the house. Every day, the witch used willow branches to drive away evil spirits, beating me until my skin was raw, forcing me to drink filthy water, and making me bleed. "This is the only way to banish the evil and bless your little brother." After enduring days of torment, my depression worsened, and I chose to end my life. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day my brother first confessed his depression. I looked at my body—whole and unharmed. This time, I will make them pay for everything I endured.

After one year of fighting heartbreak, failure, depression and pain, Tory finally trys to put her life back together to prove to the world and herself that no matter what happens she will never break but life has other plans for her, as she has a lot to learn, as she becomes the best and better version of herself.