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Working: Vol. 4, No. 2 - Issue 14 Summer 2025

The Carousel Filter

Issue 7
Sometimes when you act like this
I imagine you are a little girl
A girl that has been hurt deeply
by the world but most importantly her mother
A mother’s love is necessary for things
Seeing that bond become severed
must hurt every cell of a human
Your shame became my shame
I woke up before the cycle could repeat
And I still wonder what I could have been
without your hurts

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.
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