Above and Beyond Writing Collaboration

Hypertext Magazine & Studio collaborated with Chicago’s Above & Beyond Family Recovery Center to bring writing workshops to their clients. This poem is a result of that collaboration.

By Toni Lang

Untitled

When I was 7-years old, every evening when I came home from school my great-grandfather was sitting by the heater smoking his pipe in his recliner.

Untitled

In my childhood home the smells that I smell were my mom’s perfume and my grandmom’s cooking. I hear the television. I hear my grandma and my great grandmom sitting at the kitchen table talking and eating breakfast, my great grandmom perking her coffee. I love the smell of fresh coffee being made in the mornings. She was frying baking and eggs, toast. I can hear the sounds of neighborhood kids playing outside of their houses and the sounds of the ice cream truck.


WANT TO SUPPORT HMS’S PROGRAMMING MISSION TO EMPOWER CHICAGO-AREA ADULTS USING STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES TO GIVE THEM A VOICE AND PUBLISHING TO GIVE THEIR WORDS A VISIBLE HOME? YOU CAN DONATE HERE OR BUY A JOURNAL HERE.

MORE FASCINATING DETAILS

About

Masthead

Header Image by Kelcey Parker Ervick

Spot illustration Fall/Winter 2024 by Waringa Hunja

Spot illustrations Fall/Winter 2023 issue by Dana Emiko Coons

Other spot illustrations courtesy Kelcey Parker Ervick, Sarah Salcedo, & Waringa Hunja

Copyright @ 2010-2025, Hypertext Magazine & Studio, a 501c3 nonprofit.

All rights reserved.