Serotonin Press

I Am Not Abandoning You, Just Moving On by Bella Melardi I punish myself for not staying the same. Not being the person I used to be. Does a tree during winter punish itself for losing its leaves? Does an iceberg in summer punish itself for turning to wa…

"Does a tree during winter punish itself for losing its leaves? Does an iceberg in summer punish itself for turning to water? I’m not grieving who I used to be. That person doesn’t exist"

New prose by Bella Melardi up on our website. Give it a read!

serotoninpress.com/2025/07/26/i...

Lived, unlived by Rohit Karir Sometimes, i wake up relaxedthere’s no pain or rush to think, actacknowledged dreams lie dissolved on such days and momentsclear as azure skyanswers pierce the heart of questionsi ask myself before…

"there isn’t enough sky for heavy clouds
that won’t part or burst, no matter how hard i try."

New, profound poem up on the site by Indian writer, Rohit Karir,
...give it a read!

serotoninpress.com/2025/07/08/l...

The Beast in the Pines Buy The Beast in the Pines on Ingram. In October of 2003, a 19 year old named Cody considers joining the Army to fight in the Iraq War so that he can escape the boredom of small town Woodville, New…

Now available where books are sold: The Beast in the Pines is a psychological horror novel about a teenager who explores the New Jersey Pines Barrens in search of the Jersey Devil. This novel is described by readers as "very dark" and "captivating."

serotoninpress.com/the-beast-in...

A Text From the Attic by Arshi Mortuza There’s no service in this attic—yet phantom vibrationsmake my heart skip a beat,thinking you’ve finally reached out. I pick up my phone and write youanother text:the last time you saw me,I had fir…

"I had fire in my eyes.

Now there are merely embers.

My pupils, two worn-out wicks."

New poem up by Arshi Mortuza, inspired by Bertha Mason, the so-called “madwoman in the attic” from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

serotoninpress.com/2025/06/25/a...

Submit Individual Submissions: OPEN Please submit previously unpublished writing on mental illness, neurodivergence, and suicide prevention. We want to read original work from the author’s perspecti…

We've updated our submissions guidelines! We're still open to individual submissions of poetry and prose on mental illness. Consideration of book length manuscripts are on a temporary pause due to volume of submissions. Please click the link to learn more

serotoninpress.com/contact/

I’m Still Not Brave Enough by Joshua Hammond I’m still not brave enough to ask for help. I know that the scritch-scratching of lead on paper will yank my attention like a chain. I know that the strong perfume will cloud my mind with sickly-sw…

Hello everyone! Today we are publishing a prose poem on autism by Joshua Hammond called I’m Still Not Brave Enough, and according to the author, "intends to encapsulate some of what I feel during test taking periods at school."

serotoninpress.com/2025/05/22/i...

Please join us at Sueño Mexican Restaurant in Philadelphia on Sunday, May 25th from 5-7pm as we celebrate the release of Jane-Rebecca Cannarella’s poetry collection, Long Island Sad Poems. Our author will be reading her poetry and books will be available for sale. @anotherintro.bsky.social

Two Poems by Zach Spruce Hydrayou love translucent amber ambrosia and drowning in the din of last call you love globes of ghastly lightyou love gilton tasting glasses sticky mahogany you love to hate allthese sticky endeav…

"You never saw me administered applesauce with crushed Ritalin. You never saw me smushing my little face against a cold windowpane—a nighttime deluge of strobing blue & red." Two new, powerful poems up on the site by Zach Spruce. Give them a read! serotoninpress.com/2025/05/13/t...

Four Poems by Keti Shea //silent scream//my husband asked me what happens when two people talk to me at once andI said I become a caged animal who is backed into a cornerand the sweat falls in clear bullets andthat’s irra…

Four new poems are now up on our website! Keti Shea's incredible poems focus on Autism, ADHD, OCD, and neurodivergent anxiety in a haunting display of how mundane objects like door knobs and kitchen appliances can torture the mind. Read these poems!

@ketishea.bsky.social

Two Poems by Chrissy Stegman The FloodPregnant with my son, I dream of drivingthe car folding itself like a paper swaninto the cold mouth of the Chesapeake.A mother and child sleeping underwater,the sound of exhaustion’s lulla…

"It’s perfect for this strange & hurting world.
Beneath my new aluminum ribs, I will split
like an old stone."

Two new poems out by @chrissystegmanpoet.bsky.social that are devastatingly beautiful and will probably be the most impactful thing you read today.

serotoninpress.com/2025/04/23/t...

Long Island Sad Poems Review Long Island Sad Poems Serotonin Press has published its first poetry collection! Click the link above to buy your copy of Long Island Sad Poems by Jane-Rebecca Cannarella. Long Island Sad Poems nav…

Great news everyone, today we published our first poetry book! Please consider buying a copy of Long Island Sad Poems by Jane-Rebecca Cannarella!
serotoninpress.com/2025/04/17/l...

"I wouldn’t wish anxiety on anyone, but anxiety isn’t all bad."

One anxious person to another, true. But our own personal buy-in, how we "know" discordant energies and disordered thoughts are actually our secret survival superpowers (and sometimes they are), can make it so hard to transcend them.

You Say I have Anxiety Like It’s Only a Bad Thing by Kelly Esparza Anxiety is a phantom that’s been my shadow for years. You say I have anxiety like it’s negative, but anxiety is a coin toss. Some days, my mind is a prison, an escape room I can’t leave, a tower in…

"Anxiety makes me write about my stresses, pushes me to create stories out of thin air, like I’m suddenly a magician, about what it’s like to endure and succeed despite one’s struggles."

New prose poem up by
@kellyesparza.bsky.social about anxiety!

serotoninpress.com/2025/04/12/y...

Two Poems by Rocío Franco Ideation To Do List𝥷 September 1st—Back To School Night! Write in planner, so I won’t forget. Don’t know if I’ll make it.𝥷 (for poem) It’s August 25th, a day after her birthday. Her eyes sparkled l…

"I want to heal
my ancestors,
so their spirits feel
lighter on my bones."

Excited to announce the publication of two new poems, "Amid An Awakening, Grief Awakens As Well" and "Ideation To Do List" by Chicana warrior poet Rocío Franco.

serotoninpress.com/2025/04/02/t...

Hey everyone please welcome our newest addition to the Serotonin masthead, @axiopoeticus.bsky.social! Angel Rosen is going to be helping out with submissions. An experienced poet, her "...poetry exists in a realm of mental illness and hope - Plath spaces - and spaces inclusive of everyone."

Counting on You by Stacie Dubnow November brought heavy downpours, erasing all traces of the fall foliage from the trees. I slipped outside during a break in the rain and inhaled the crisp late afternoon and fusty scent of wet lea…

"I could not help but wonder if mass shooters felt this way. Whether their feelings of powerlessness drove them to their horrific acts. And I thought about their mothers. Whether they could have done anything differently." New prose by Stacie Dubnow! serotoninpress.com/2025/03/26/c...

Got a prose poem accepted for publication by @serotoninpress.bsky.social about the positives of having anxiety. I think a lot of times, we can focus on anxiety being bad, but there are positives that can come out of hardship and struggles.
#mentalhealthawareness

Two Poems by Sarah Smith Trichotillomania  (Trigger warning: anxiety disorders, hair pulling, self-harm) Strands of hair fall one by onelight brown and brittle, delicate enoughto thread a sewing needle—My hair? The thread.…

"Strands of hair fall one by one
light brown and brittle, delicate enough
to thread a sewing needle—
My hair? The thread.
My fingers? The needle."

Today we're sharing two new poems by Sarah Smith about self-harm and anxiety. Give them a read at the link!

serotoninpress.com/2025/03/12/t...

People Like Us by Rachel Turney Busy is good for people like us Busy keeps the pull away that unravels  The sound of low bellows always distracting  A little ringing in my ear Tapping your feet methodically  Tappin…

"Busy keeps the pull away that unravels
The sound of low bellows always distracting
A little ringing in my ear
Tapping your feet methodically
Tapping my fingers, restless"

New poem up by Rachel Turney. Give it a read! @rachelturney.bsky.social

serotoninpress.com/2025/03/04/p...

Viral by Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe “And now I am become death. Destroyer of worlds”— Bhagavad GitaFirst step in writing a poem is first fleshening it in the potters wheel of the mind. Like how they said their god said “let us create…

"It's no wonder, I finish a poem, and

I am shocked. And I cannot even recognize
the boy, his eyes of black staring back."

New work up by budding Nigerian poet Marvellous Igwe about destruction, disassociation, and writing poetry. Give it a read! serotoninpress.com/2025/02/06/v...

Edge by Yalda Al-Ani After Sylvia Plath’s Edge The letters writhe as my fingertips tickle my iPhone’s keyboard. It’s 2:20 am. My pupils move in every direction, drawing circle-like shapes in the air, imploring my eyeli…

"My body, slick like a baby sliding into a new world."

New poem up on the site: Edge by Yalda Al-Ani, (after Sylvia Plath's Edge). It's a chilling, insomniac reflection on the struggles of creation. Give the full poem a read!

serotoninpress.com/2025/01/30/e...

"Bipolar Disorder is the receptacle in which you place your impermanence, the enormously skittish sense of self you’ve mistaken for actualized ego over the years."

Beyond excited to share this new, powerful essay by @marybuchanan.bsky.social about a psych hospital stay.

Entropy by Craig Kirchner Every time I get up something new hurts,like a pinball bouncing to the next bellof pain, close to tilt, no lucky replay.I sit back down and rub the latest.It makes it difficult to enjoy all this en…

"Mortality sits on the coffee table like a knick-knack."

Who else can relate to when physical pain leads to mental pain? How about financial difficulties? If so, read this new poem by Craig Kirchner!

serotoninpress.com/2025/01/14/e...

had such a great time reading at the Serotonin Anthology Release last night! TYSM to Sean Lynch of
@serotoninpress.bsky.social for having me 🙏

check out the magazine & purchase a copy of the anthology at serotoninpress.com ✨

Tomorrow w/ @serotoninpress.bsky.social

ONE ART: a journal of poetry (Write it!)

Today in ONE ART, we feature poems by Richard L. Matta & Sean Lynch

oneartpoetry.com

Cutting by Alexander Lazarus Wolff Water as cold  as a blade. An icicle tipped against the mind’s scaffolding. You wouldn’t know purity in steel: the first time,   with father’s scissors; after I groveled in my five  day lover’…

"But I don’t consider scars stories.

The line was cut before the plot

could unfold; the sole character

fashioned from cardboard."

Incredible new poem up, "Cutting" by @wolffalex108.bsky.social

TW: self-harm

serotoninpress.com/2024/12/10/c...

The Cattle is a new online reading series partnering with small presses and their authors held on the first Saturday afternoon of every month with a short open mic at the end.

Our first episode will be with @serotoninpress.bsky.social ! More info coming soon.

Thanks so much!

Thank you! All of our published work is free to read on our website. Feel free to check out whatever category interests you and take a look at the submission guidelines if you'd like to submit your own work!