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Breanna Stockham Feb 2016
If it wasn't
Race or religion
It would be something else
It's one big competition

We're living in the Darwin days
Survival of the fittest
As if we don't all deserve
To have equal chances

We're breaking ladders
Instead of building them taller
Instead of working toward growth
We make others smaller

Can't get anywhere
If we're tripping each other
But how far we could go
If we worked together

Start building, not breaking
We'll get so much further
One mile alone
One hundred miles together
Breanna Stockham Feb 2016
I'm a little too
Excitable
Or at least
That's what I'm told
Too positive
With my glass half full
Too happy, too many
Smiles, I know

I'm too naive
Too blind, unaware
To know what
Life's about
I'm too busy
Floating on air
To remember
The pain of the ground

You think I don't know
The pressure and strain
Of the final string
Of a splitting rope?
I've ripped, I've snapped
I have no less pain
But one thing I do have
Is hope

Well my glass isn't half full
Its overflowing
My rose colored glasses
Don't leave my eyes
I am not too much
Of anything
Except too good
At finding where hope hides
Breanna Stockham Jan 2016
I was hoping
To get a few words in
But it's okay, I'll keep them.
It is what it is,
And it was what it was,
But I guess we can keep pretending.  

We'll keep living our lives,
We'll keep locking our eyes,
Too different and yet the same.
The reality's clear,
There's nothing happening here,
So why am I still wearing these chains?

I was hoping
To get a few words in
But it's okay, I'll keep them.
I won't rock the boat,
I'll try to let go of hope,
I'll find some water to make this flame dim.

I was hoping you'd always be mine,
But on second thought, nevermind.
I was hoping it would be you and I,
But on second thought, nevermind.

I was hoping
To get a few words in
But it's okay, I'll keep them.
Breanna Stockham Jan 2016
Everyone speaks
A million miles an hour
Each word
Growing more empowered

They think saying more,
Competing, interrupting
Proves that they know more
And won't be thought of as nothing

Well I'm the bird
That tries to tweet
When thunder crashes
And lightning streaks

Won't take the time
To hear my thoughts
So all I do
Is smile and nod

But that's okay,
No worries here,
Won't seek validation
From a strangers ear

Your hot air fills the room
While you seek your applause
I know my worth, applaud myself
So I just smile and nod
Breanna Stockham Dec 2015
It seems that I'm
The revolving door
Standing between you
And your favorite store

It's not me you came to see
And yet here I am
Spinning 'round and 'round all day
Each time, at your every command

But you never stay
You're just passing through
You look right through me
At the treasure, loved by you

But I'm a person
I am not a door
Here for your convenience
While you find what you look for

Spinning and spinning
Has led me nowhere
I'm done being your door
I'll be treasure elsewhere
Breanna Stockham Nov 2015
I’ve mastered independence strength and might
I’ve mastered pushing everyone away
With standards high, I’ve mastered loneliness
No tears are shed when someone goes astray

I’ll admit, it’s working out quite nicely
Heartbreak in my future, I don’t see
Heartbreak comes from closeness turned to distance
But distance comes so naturally to me

Flooded with feelings when they are close by
Flooded with feelings when they’re far away
They drown in feelings, I’m completely dry
Won’t dip my toe, scared I’ll get swept away

I’ve mastered this dry land, my own safety
Mastered feeling content walking on land
But one thing I cannot seem to master
Is my strange desire to go and swim

Flooded with feelings or choking on air
I simply can’t decide which one is worse
At least the water makes you feel something
My dry land leaves me numb with quite a thirst

Staying on the surface can’t satisfy
My deep desire for something much more
Better to feel too much than not at all
Goodbye safety, it’s time to leave the shore
Breanna Stockham Nov 2015
Since when is good enough,
Good enough?
Minimum, easiest,
Thoughtless and rushed.

We're giving pennies
Wanting dollars in return
We expect the gold medal
Without effort, it's not earned

Giving enough
to get by, and no more
Yet expecting the best
From the rest of the world

Too focused on taking
To ever give
But a one-sided life
Is no way to live

Good enough is not good enough
Half effort won't yield a full life.
If you feel like you deserve all the best
You've got to give what you'd like.
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