Chrysalis Journal Introduction to Volume 2, Issue 1 (2018) // by Roy Ringel, Editorial Collective Member

No matter how self-governing we believe we are, we remain slaves to the tyrannies of whatever remains unconscious within us; whatever we have refused to stand up to and face. So, the greatest problem we may confront is that who we have let ourselves become may now be our chief obstacle. Once we realize this, Read More …

Cursive Repurposed // by Steve Broidy

It’s not that my writing is fine; In fact, in bad lighting I can’t read it myself. But I always supposed that my grandchildren’s children, discovering my journal, and, of course, my old diary– slick, gold-leafed, rich as a relic itself— would conjure a view of that rascally genius, the writer they’d figure greatgrandpa must Read More …

One, a Tiger // by Cathleen Cohen

One in a wizard’s costume one, as a queen one, a tiger ……………….grandchildren race through the house, shrieking, tying us up in spells …………………………….with voices like high-pitched wind. Even the youngest, at two, is fierce, perhaps the fiercest. Grabbing my husband’s arm, she insists he hug her ………………at each pass she makes of the room. Read More …

The Plight of Two Frogs, a Folktale Adaptation // by Lyn Ford

The management and expression of and response to emotions impact all aspects of both intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship. The nurturing and modeling of effective emotional and behavioral responses can be shared through storytelling. As storytelling educators, we also become cheerleaders whose words and actions can make all the difference in the world: In an old Read More …

One and Many: Little Girls Speak Volumes // by Susan Shepler

Abstract The Ballerina concrete poem is archetypal, a symbol, one of a series of images. As I created the poems, sorting words like seeds to produce images, often with rhyme and meter, unconscious energy beyond the personal unconscious found a way into the process, and actually became the process. C. G. Jung refers to the Read More …

Especially If // by Sandra Kolankiewicz

I was tired of thinking about how ……..this never became that, why the only …………….word I could not describe as anything more than a noun, as if dictionaries ……..contradicted me, always different …………….from the subject or the object, lonely purpose of a preposition. Surprise, ……..since so often the world concentrates on …………….adverbs since everyone wants Read More …

A Real One Would Point Out // by Sandra Kolankiewicz

A real One would Point out I don’t Belong— neither Do you. We try, Admirable gestures From the Heart, for Staying a Part of Them is All, forget Separating ourselves, Impossible to Find righteous Men. We Know from History looking Back turns Us to Salt—as Well it Should, any Reproaching ourselves Pointless. Only The forgiving Read More …

The Benefits of Expressive Writing in Women’s Sacred Circles— A Counterpoise to Some of Today’s Greatest Challenges // by Jennifer A. Minotti

Abstract Research in the emergent field of expressive writing shows that writing our stories helps us to make sense of our lives. As we write, the brain’s neuroplasticity and circuitry change. As I have witnessed consistently in my Women’s Writing Circles, sharing our personal narratives with others in a safe circle, creates both individual healing, Read More …

Spontaneous Coaching: Accessing and Trusting Intuition to Help Your Clients // by Joanna Young

David comes to the door all smiles, water bottle and notebooks in hand. He has been writing all week and excited to share some of the experience with me: the a-ha! moments, the times the writing flowed, and when it didn’t. We have only an hour to meet, and these sessions, structured around David’s specified Read More …

“When the Dying Has Begun”: Death, Grief, and Poetry, by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and John Willison

Death is at the table with us when we write together at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing, where I’ve been facilitating workshops for people with serious illness since 2003. The workshop participants have been through a dizzying amount of surgeries or strokes or heart attacks or chemotherapy treatments. They don’t flinch at Read More …

Coping Through Connections: Faith, Rationality, and Poetry, by Roy J. Beckemeyer

Rosarium Threnody  “Tell the beads of the chromosomes like a rosary, Father.” – Kathryn Kysar from her poem, “Coyote Addresses Science” We tell the string of chromosomes like a rosary, follow, finger by finger, the coiled helix home, count mitochondria for the Mother of God. We bear each mutation to the cross as if we Read More …

The Mourning After: A Poem about Date Rape, by Melissa Rose and Michael Ting

Poem by Melissa Rose and Michael Ting Reflection by Melissa Rose Female Voice Male Voice Female and Male Together I don’t remember how I got home last night I woke up hungover Last night was a blur Drank too much Head still pounding I take a shower Removing The smell of her sweet perfume Washing Read More …

From “Wishing for Repose and the Beauty of Things,” by Matthew Gray and Timothy Johnson

Poems by Matthew Gray and Timothy Johnson Reflection by Timothy Johnson Freedom of the Hills When did I exchange without thought, my mountains for civilization extensive childhood memories when I pondered alpine landscapes filled soulful desires unmet dreams haunt the waking reaching peaks now burned A Foggy Day on the North Shore It is difficult Read More …

Writing Grief: A Writing Workshop within a Hospice Bereavement Program, by Vicki C. Mayk

Hospice House of St. Luke’s Hospice in Bethlehem, Pa., sits tucked away at the bend of a road. A floor-to-ceiling mosaic greets visitors in its welcoming entryway. To the right, a kitchen stocked with snacks and comfort food is ready for family members who need a break from their bedside vigils. A library with cozy Read More …

Let the River Take Me: Learnings from Facilitating an At-risk Group, by Joanna Tebbs Young

Let the River Take Me A compilation poem Let the river take me — Even when it hurts, it breathes with the joy of laughter, undulating. I choke on life, I’m really here in the world. I keep trying. I am a survivor. Manipulate the truth; truth to be heard. The road to hell is Read More …

A Conversation on Right Livelihood and Transformative Language Arts, by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Laura Packer

What does Right Livelihood mean in the context of TLA? How does it relate to finding and staying in conversation with our life’s work while keeping the cupboards and gas tank full as well as caring for our health, art, soul, and community? Laura Packer and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, between them, have decades of experience. Laura Read More …