I don't get **** sometimes
It makes me feel dumb and incapable
I wish we could transform science
So it wouldn't feel like a burden

Where is the spark of learning?
The prime aspect of education
Formulas, calculation, books
At the end of the day, I feel like nothing is useful

Fluids, kinematics, gravitation
Atoms, molecules and electromagnetism
Phylum and classes of plants and animals
Calculus and relation and function

Sometimes, I feel like maybe I'm just better off at poems

I am willing to calm your waves
as it touches the shore
but oceans have storms
that no man can control

but those storms don't last long
so I'll endure your wreckage
and other afflictions
cause you're still beautiful after any chaos

Words are left unsaid
Stuck on the back of my tongue
Like thick, black molasses

The fine bones of your
petite hands, skin stretching taut over the
blue rivers
of your veins
that roll and roil
across the valley of your
knuckles.

The world is held in your soft palms,
and you don't even realize you could
destroy
my universe
with a simple squeeze
of a cruel fist.

I lay awake watching you sleep
Imagining your dreams and what they may be.
Sleep is foreign
For that I'm deprived
And alone I lay
As my eyes meet the darkness that surrounds me and this room.
My mind wonders too often
And often negative energy sets in
As my thoughts stammer
My head begins to ache
There lies why I'm here
Why I'm awake
My heart is pained and bodies cold
Detached from normality
That of solomn
That of somber
..
as you slumber tucked neatly in the warmth of your covers.

I'm here alone.. abandoned with my absurdity
As my eyes swell from tears
That are formed from my many fears
As they stream as the flow.. my eyes have no choice but just to shut
Silently exhausting what's left from a dreary day only to surrender myself off to what's hoped to be a deep sleep as I cradle myself
Alone I really am..

© Jenn Linh

There was only a bittersweet silence in the confines of what once was a lively home as our love came to an end. Quiet, unmoving, almost as if we hadn't anticipated that this day would come.

We stood there, eyes downcast and shoulders heaving with painful breath after breath, neither one of us attempting to utter a single word. But what could we have said, then, that would make this pain dull into an unnoticeable ache? What difference would it make, in the long run?

Words couldn't be of any use to us now. Not when we had abused them, used them to gain the upper hand in our selfish, sadistic games months prior to this very day. A gentle but lethal poison that seeped into our bones, slowly killing us from the inside out. Words hurt us then, so surely they wouldn't save us now.

Gathering the strength to move was almost impossible, but being weak wasn't an option anymore. It was time for me, for us, to be strong. I didn't hate you, even when you caused me so much sorrow and took away the last ounce of light I had ever had in this life. I didn't hate you, because I know that this was never a one-sided play. I had hurt you just as badly, ripping you apart time and time again in blinding fits of jealousy.

One step. Two. We both walked forward, steps unsure and afraid, tentative smiles spreading across our soft lips. It was finally time. We reached each other, sable eyes meeting for the first time in a long time, and for once I found no shred of hatred or pity in sight. The kiss, the last kiss we'd ever give the other tasted bitter, and yet I couldn't bring myself to care, much. It was perfect, a kiss that helped lift away the blackened veil of hurt that had been bestowed upon me tonight.

Goodbye.

Gripping the last of my possessions, knuckles turning white while I tried to still my trembling hands, the last words were exchanged. I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned, walking away from my home, and from you.

I felt radiant, as my pace quickened and I neared my old truck, its rusted exterior breathing new life into me. A surge of power and happiness flowed through me then, and I hoped that you could feel it as well.

Driving away from that place without a single glance backwards made this taste so much sweeter. Years of heartbreak and torture could never have prepared me for this feeling of liberation. Beautiful and refreshing.

We had finally found our freedom, and nothing would ever taste as sweet.

Throwing my best wishes out into the wind, hoping you'd catch them, the first laugh of many bubbled out of me, and I drove further away.

Deeper into the loving embrace of Reprise.