MIGRAINE NYMPH WITH AURA: A BEING FROM THE LAND OF TRIPTAN | Liz Baxmeyer

“I have suffered from random and intense migraines since entering my 40s (about 3 years). As an artist and storyteller, I ground myself in nature and mythology, and often explore these themes when processing physical and emotional pain. This piece started off as a sketch in a notebook after recovering, with prescription medication, from a migraine attack. The nymph, or tree spirit, represents how I experience the start of a migraine: aura and dull but intense pain, radiating from behind the eyes, the temple, and neck. As I deal with migraine as a (hopefully temporary) part of my life, I try to find the beauty in the experience.”

Liz Baxmeyer is a writer, visual artist, sound artist and composer living in Sacramento, CA, where she teaches arts and humanities (including narrative medicine) to health sciences students. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and an MA in music from Bangor University, UK; she is completing a PhD in Creative Research at Transart Institute. In her work, Baxmeyer explores folklore, feminism, grief and ecology, especially where these themes intersect. Her art, fiction, poetry and nonfiction are published in Wild Roof Journal, The Examined Life Journal, Luna Station Quarterly and more. Her hybrid chapbook, Root & Bone, will be published by Finishing Line Press in November 2024. Baxmeyer is EIC of The Calendula Review.

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