Empyrean
  • Featured
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Contests
    • Poetry Contest
    • Fiction Contest
    • Non-Fiction Contest
  • Support us
  • Advertise with us
  • General Submissions
  • Moon Submissions
  • Zodiac Submissions
  • Issues
  • Featured
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Contests
    • Poetry Contest
    • Fiction Contest
    • Non-Fiction Contest
  • Support us
  • Advertise with us
  • General Submissions
  • Moon Submissions
  • Zodiac Submissions
  • Issues
Working: Vol. 4, No. 2 - Issue 14 Summer 2025

Dear Diary

Issue 7
“And they lived happily until the end.” I must have written
My most personal thoughts invaded
Expressing myself became humiliating
But being blamed for another’s crime comes with consequence
This Pisces moon stores those feelings of shame and anger
They pop up in the most peculiar places
My marriage, for instance
The past lives on and refuses to die

KARINA OLIVER
​won 1st Place of the Poetry Writing Contest. She was born in Mexicali, Mexico and raised in the border town of Calexico, CA. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree from a little known school called National University where she studied English with a focus on creative writing. A U.S. Navy veteran, she is currently a stay at home mom, housewife and pontificator of life. Karina constantly writes about small moments in time and injects existentialism in all her work.

Copyright © 2025 Empyrean Literary Magazine, L.L.C.
  • Featured
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Contests
    • Poetry Contest
    • Fiction Contest
    • Non-Fiction Contest
  • Support us
  • Advertise with us
  • General Submissions
  • Moon Submissions
  • Zodiac Submissions
  • Issues