There once was a creature who lived in a shell
It was tiny
Not a boy or a girl
Barely a human
The shell was big and stayed perched on something
The creature couldn't tell much else
It sat in the shell waiting to grow and move out
Twiddling its thumbs
Not having much fun
Years and years and years and years
Growing steadily in that big shell
Well, the shell got smaller as the creature grew
Less space for the creature to run around
Finally, one day,
There was a crack in the top of the shell
The crack widened and the sunlight came in
A huge smile came to the face of the creature
"Is this the day?
Am I finally getting out?"
A delicate hand with long, painted fingernails
Picked up the creature and dangled it upward
Out of the shell it lived in for so long
The creature's eyes were massive
Taking in all the new sights around it
The creature finally saw the outside of the shell
A beautiful head attached to a beautiful woman
She had long, flowing hair and ruby lips
She smiled at the creature she held in her hand
"It was you who was in my brain all along!
I knew something was trapped, but I didn't know what
Now I can finally set you free"
She kissed the creature and held it tight
"It's time for my body to leave
And time for you to explore
Thank you"
She placed the creature tenderly on the ground
Before her body melted into the earth
As the woman shrank, the creature grew
Finally fully becoming the human
Able to walk and explore
In its truth

There once was a girl who walked the Earth
She had lots of fun
Playing and dancing
As she grew up, she became uncomfortable
Something about her wasn’t right
There suddenly was this pain in her head
Nagging at her all day and all night
She needed something to relieve the pain
But no medicine or remedy would help her
Growing into a woman, the pain persisted
As she put on her makeup and did her hair
Something was trapped deep inside of her
But no one knew the right solution
She finally gave up
Desperate to know what’s been plaguing her for years
She went to the kitchen and pulled out a knife
Cutting carefully in the top of her head
And sticking her hand in to see what’s inside
She pulled out a creature, tiny and smiling
Not a boy or a girl
Barely a human
She smiled widely as she finally realized
This tiny part of her could be released
"It was you who was in my brain all along!
I knew something was trapped, but I didn't know what
Now I can finally set you free"
She kissed the creature and held it tight
"It's time for my body to leave
And time for you to explore
Thank you"
She placed the creature tenderly on the ground
Before her body melted into the earth
To truly free herself of this pain
She had to let go of the shell
And let her soul
Let the creature
Walk and explore
In its truth

My mother says, “Taking out the trash is a man’s job.”
2. She says, “A man shouldn’t be afraid to get his hands *****.”
3. I wonder if she left my father because he wouldn’t get his hands *****.
4. The first man my mother dated after the divorce was a garbage man. I still remember the gifts he would bring, the reclaimed objects that were always just a little too broken for my mother to love.
5. I have my father’s hands, a writer ever since I learned how prose could dribble and ooze from a page like the sweetest honey. I couldn’t wait to run my hands through it.
6. I have the eyes of my mother, ever since I learned the beauty of a man willing to get his hands *****.
7. I am still so shocked when I confuse myself with the garbage that I have become so accustomed to removing.
8. I am willing to love men who would hold me if only to take me to the dumpster when they’ve finished.
9. I am 19, and I am scared to tell my parents that I don’t want to get my hands ***** for a girl, but that I feel comfortable getting my hands ***** with boys.
10. I worry that my scent betrays me. That it rises like some profane incense from my plastic skin.
11. My father asks me, “Is there a girl you’ve been seeing? I can give you advice about talking to girls.”
12. He says, “You know, you could have any girl you wanted.”
13. I wonder if my father left my mother because he thought he could have any girl he wanted.
14. I imagine the look on each of their faces when I tell them about this part of myself that I couldn’t throw away. Look at me, still talking about it as though it belongs in a landfill. As though I belong with it.
15. I wonder if, next week, it will be their love placed delicately by the side of the curb to be caught in the teeth of a trash compactor. If they will mourn me like I once saw them mourn broken china. Valuable once, maybe, but now, beyond repair.

Imposing mountains
Expanding forests
Nature all around.

Images of my childhood
pass me by

Weekends by the beach
and long drives
to reach those trees

The kindness
of my people
never far behind

I wish to go back

To my home in the hills
With mango trees
and fresh breeze

A toxic person
Living off of a wonderful woman
Like a parasite
Feeding off of her good nature
Toxic substances
Constantly coursing through his veins
Becoming less and less humane
And more and more monstrous
She was trapped
He played his games
The supposed love of her life
Cancer didn’t bring him down
Cancer made the leech only stronger
Until finally
One last substance
One last toxic substance
Was his downfall
How do you even mourn
When this man
Abused with pride
Abused the woman
Abused the drugs
Abused the system
Leaving the woman behind
Leaving his daughter behind
Toxic
Toxic
Toxic
Somehow
The woman fell in love
With that toxic man
Giving up herself in the process
Now
She cries
She’s empty
The emptiness will linger
But soon
She will realize
She’s free
Free from the abuse
Free from the parasite
Free from the toxicity

I woke up this morning and my name flashed on T.V.
They said i blew up places , they said i killed masses .
Men , women & children I murdered them all.
Who am I ?
I am a muslim and i am taking this fall.
They used my name and spread the terror.
I am not them , it surely is an error.
We, muslims, are the holders of peace , we spread love.
Why am I being  represented by their false actions.
I am a person, with different notions.
World will now brand me a terrorist.
Don't judge me by their actions , I insist.
I am not them, they pilfered my name.
They inflicted libel , and my religion to defame .
I have been robbed , robbed of my name.
I am a muslim , human like you , all the same.
My name has been robbed , my identity stolen
I deprecate the terror and mourn for fallen.
There are millions like me and humanity lies in our depths.
But we are all victims of Identity Theft* ...............