Linda Briskin

Linda Briskin is a writer and fine art photographer. Her creative nonfiction bends genres, embraces hybrid forms, makes quirky connections and highlights social justice themes—quietly. In her fiction, she is drawn to writing about whimsy, fleeting moments, and the small secrets of interior lives. Her writing has recently appeared in Bluerbird Word, Prairie Fire, South 85, Fictive Dream, South 8, Barren, *82Review, Masque & Spectacle, The Schuylkill Valley Journal, Canary, Tipping the Scales, Montreal Serai, The Ekphrastic Review, Rise Up Review and Cobalt Review among others. As a photographer, she is intrigued by the permeability between the remembered and the imagined, and the ambiguities in what we choose to see. Recently, her photographs have been published in Humana Obscura, ilanot Review, Flare Journal, Alluvian, Canadian Camera, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Burningword Literary Journal and High Shelf Press. In 2024 The Hopper, an environmental literary journal published nine photographs in Briskin’s series Intimate Conversations.

Pulling Taffy

As I age and tire of life, my child-self is insistently present. She has not faded with the passing of time; instead, I have a growing sense of quiet urgency—to know her more deeply and to comfort her.
That long-ago child was the middle of three daughters: her older sister, the favored child, too old to be a companion, and the younger too young. She was ignored by her parents. In a matter-of-fact way, she expected indifference and accommodated neglect. Paradoxically she also faced the brunt of their rage, prompted, they said, by her audacity and impertinence. She dreamed about leaving home.
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