flatten your tongue
slip it between your teeth

n.

your little lips
forming an elipsis

o.

put them together
and may you declare
a word you’d so carefully deny—
no.

you spell it out
on table tops
shout it
from the rooftops

and when cursed hands
seek to defile your shrine
may you exclaim
"i am mine"

If you saw yourself at a dance
Would you ask yourself to dance?

Would you love yourself enough to say yes

Would you accept yourself enough to say yes

Or

Would you say no

And dance alone?

I remember when you said
“I love you”

And that simple phrase
I broke
Said “Whatever”

And you tried to talk to me
And..
I just snapped

I started yelling
Horrible things
About how I felt unwanted
And unloved
How I could be easily replaced
With tears in my eyes
And the taste of metal in my throat

I never saw you sob before
How I saw your heart pour out

I froze
And hated myself even more
In that moment

I realized that my parents worried
About my safety
At home

I realized the pain I caused them
When I said I didn’t want to live

I realized a lot of things
How I placed my anger at the wrong people
And how much of a force I could be

I realized how much I was loved by them
And how much they cared
And how much my life is worth

Love isn't blind,
blind are those,
who never loved.