The lake reflected lies unto his hands,
and he didn't seem to notice how visible they were.
He called me his,
but I knew I wasn't the only one.

Aaron Evans - Magic  
I love you, I really do
    
Alex Forte - ****
*******

Alex S - *****
I hate what you made me become

Andrew T -Beer
Do good in Rehab, dear

Austin Kearns - Lake Water
really?

Garrett A - Pretzels
Burn in Hell

Garrett F - Soy Sauce
I'm so sorry

Hunter G - Cigarettes
You still turn me on

Jason H - Bubblegum
I kissed you out of pity

Jeff C - Water
I'd still Hate *******

JJ S - Ciroc
What a regret

John Bradshaw - Football
How is Pennsylvania?

Johnny Bozeman II - Marlboro Reds
I just really ******* miss you

John Butler - Coffee
Don't ever touch me again

John G - Sugar
I'm sorry I ruined it

Julian R - Cherry Popsicles
Thank you for freeing me

Justin B - Cheap Wine
*******

Justin Haupt - Mint
I really enjoyed all the free *******

Katie Moorman - Red Lipstick
IloveyouImissyouI'msorry

Kyrstin Bruce - Grey Goose
I don't like kissing you

Mario Luppachino - Pool Water
I would've ****** you in my car that night

Michael H - Hash Brownies
Stay Away

Ryan T - Want
Kissing you made me *** in a school hallway

Rusty H - Need
I still wonder what became of you

Sam R - Mistakes
Heard you're a father now, congrats

Sean Ellis - Berry Hookah      
sigh
                  
Steven Spence - Gasoline
I'm a **** person and so are you

Taylor Vaughn - Sunset
Go back to your baby mama

Tim Hoback - Hangover at 7 am
You made me breakfast and gave me your pants

Trevor W - Candy
Time is a funny thing, huh?

Tyler Farris - Missed Connections
If I was a little prettier could I have been your baby?

How To Leave Someone Without Breaking Their Heart

How To Tell Him “I Love You” Without Using Poetry

How To Not Compare Yourself To Broken Glass

How To Not Make Life Another One Of Your Similes

How To Wake Up And Be Okay

How To Deal With Someone Saying You Are Too Much To Handle

How To Let The Light In

How To Tell Your Parents About The Last Six Years

How To Not Want To Jump Off Of A Roof

I’m fascinated by the way your faulty intestines
rest on the insides of your ribs when you lay on one side
and the way my spine tries to rip its way out of my back

I want to know why my shoulder blades feel as if
one day they will become wings
and allow me to fly away

I’ve wanted to be somewhere else for a long while now
my feet don’t really seem to fully hit the ground anymore
I am a vortex gaining speed

and they say getting hit by lightning twice is so highly improbable
but what happens when I am struck by lightning every night

what does it mean when I wake up covered in blood
and desperate for something unnamed
something that hides out in my dreams

and all I’ve ever wanted was a few answers

like if there is a god why does he allow hell on earth
because I’ve been burning at the stake ever since I turned 7

and this charred flesh of mine feels like acid
and tastes like asphalt

this little body does not feel like home

there's a buzzing in this spine
and a nervous rattling in this skull

The people that say passive aggressiveness is just a made up term
and doesn’t really exist
obviously have not met my grandmother

or been across from her at a Thanksgiving day get together
and heard her comments from over the hum of
green beans and dry turkey
that none of us are really so keen to eat
-
The people that say ADHD is just an excuse
and some kind of made up disorder to make people feel better
have not met my mother

or have had to witness a 47 year old middle school teacher quiver
at the thought of concentrating for more than an hour
without some kind of medication or break
or tear up at having to think about organization
-
The people that say being trapped in your own skin
is just a saying that has become overused
have obviously not met me

or have ever felt the need to open their ribcage
and let their bones fly free like little wings
or felt an itch deep inside their organs like some kind of ticking bomb
that could go off at any time  
-
We are all packaged explosives hidden deep in
rocky crevices in a hillside growing wild and green

Just because the outside isn't so frightening
doesn't mean there isn't something dark waiting underneath

At 14 I was sent to the hospital twice because
I was hallucinating which is a fancy way of saying
hey, you’re batshit crazy so we’re going to pump you full of medication

Turns out all of the walls I had been seeing crashing down
and the fires that were never there
were always just a side effect of my depression medication
because I was on too high of a dose for my weight

And I told my ex-boyfriend this when I was 16
and now, 8 months later he is telling everyone I am schizophrenic

like baby there’s a lot of things I am but that’s not one of them

Like there’s a lot of things you are
but a good person was never something I would use to describe you

you're more of a waste of space
and I really wish you had never left Chicago

I wish I never even met you

I wish I hadn’t been so desperate for the way you moved
your thin body like a train down the rails

I wish I had never agreed to play with your hair in class
or sat in your lap with your arms around me tight

or caught sight of you in my eyes
like a glare through a window there was nothing else

Your legacy lies behind closed eyes,
The wind teasing eyelashes that would only part for God,
And though you are gone, I remember,
The songs that kept you alive,
Irish folk songs from previous generations,
Sung to you by a family,
That you only remembered half of,
And my voice mixing with yours,
In harmony,
And melody,
And verses upside down and out of order,
We’d laugh,
Then we’d leave,
Then we’d cry,
As we remembered yesterday,
Your eyes were full of life,
True blue to the end,
And though waxen and still,
You belong in our hearts,
Forever.

I jump and curse at the sound of my name
Because when I was younger it was beaten into my skinny bones.

My first name became the sound of my father's fist on a wooden door,
My middle name the sound of papers crackling in a fire,
My last name the regrets of generations of men.

What's in a name
Until it has rolled off your tongue
Like the rustle of leaves in the brisk wind?