A woman who rose
From ash and fire
Is the storm
To wash away flames
Her clouds are miles high
Where her head lies
She is strong
But still
She rains.
She will peel the layers of herself
And the the land
To make anew fertile home
For her children to grow

I should be sleeping right now,
I should be dreaming right now,
I should be dead right now,

But I missed you.

They first appear
With two clicks of my lamp
I invite the darkness seeping from my windows
Covered in a lazy blanket
I lay on my side, watching the lifeless room
Restless, but all the same exhausted

From the ***** laundry and the memories I keep
One stares harmlessly
My lungs began screaming and wheezing
My heart and brain nearly fried
My muscles frozen in sweat

One easily becomes many
Soon, every corner of my room glares back at me
I press my eyes close and pray for sleep
But their hot breath runs down my neck
And peels my eyelids apart, squeezing my chest
Forcing out a stuttering sigh
I have no choice

Click click
My lamp peirces through each monster
Until I can fight them on my own

I’m confined
Inclosed
Imprisoned
Constrained
Pent up in a cage
Just big enough for your spirit,
Me,
And a tiny computer desk
Inside a tiny room
Cluttered with papers and lost, rejected ideas
Trash and old cigarette buds
A room inside a tiny house that looks bigger from the outside
A house that holds a tiny, little, broken, family
A house in a little town
In a little county
In a little state
In a little country
That's torn itself apart bit by bit
In a world that's separated themselves
From others
Based on just the color of other’s skin
The way they dress
How they hold themself when they walk
A world dotted with little girls slashing both wrists
And little boys hiding their tears
In a world where there is only love in public
But bitterness biting us from within the shadows
And in our own minds
I’m confined
Inclosed
Imprisoned
Constrained
In a tiny room
Because I can’t stand
To see you cry
To see you suffering, and crying out for help
So I stay in my box
My box
I shall stay

I don’t like food.
I don't like the way it makes me feel.
Bloated and fat, and all your eyes seem to stab me.
It makes me
Anxious
Uneasy
Insecure
Ugly
But I come crawling back for more every time
Please just let me starve
Please just give me the strength to push
My finger
A few
millimeters
Further
Into my throat
I’m sorry that I have to survive
I’m sorry I must perform such an
Ugly
Task in front of you
But I am human
And we have to eat.