Art speaks words unheard,
   The feelings paints pictures unseen.
       It is beauty and drastic ideas combined
      A mix of pleasure and pain
      All experiences add a different taste
        Rough edges and smoothness entwined.
Touch it and fall into a dream
The artist lived and lives within.

The black ink pours in
The white page is pure gold
Wisdom seeps through
Transforming the lives
And the knowledge speaks
To the people in every fold.

Late night texts
Sleepy eyes
Small smiles
Butterflies

Stolen moments
Held inside
Beating heart
Stupefied

~

Left alone
Tear filled eyes
Chapped lips
Scarred thighs

Empty promises
Cast aside
Broken heart
Terrified

~j.l.

i go back and forth
every couple of months
performing my ritual dance
of what ifs and i hopes

no matter what i do
i always return
to this ancestral place
of insecurity and naivety

i'm tired of this war
waged between
my mind and my heart
it's caused me to grow old
and become someone
who is tenfold my age

but time goes on
and i'm still here
performing the same dance
perfecting it for the grand finale
of when the vultures swoop in
and tear the remains of my heart to shreds

i'm tired of this war
i don't know how much more i can take
the voices around me say to drop the rope, the game is done
but i still find myself tugging with everything i have
which is only a fragile wish for a future
that may possibly never come