People take turns inserting coins
attempting to grab plushy hearts and plastic capsules
the claws never were good at holding on for long
always went limp, dropping the trinkets, just before the finish line
only time it grabbed hold of something long enough
to flash all the lights and sing
was for children
who pointed a tiny hand
at something shiny they saw inside
parents step up to fail again and again
at winning it for them.
when the kids have a turn.
on the first try, they lasso this heart
resting firmly on the bottom
hidden beneath all the old ipods and heavy rubber toys.
would glow in the lights
when they lit all up and sang for them.
revered for their expertise and skill,
they reach in to claim their reward.
not even knowing what it really was.
but for some reason
grabbing it.
bringing it everywhere.
when the kids get older.
it was kept on their bed.
when they had their own children
handed down to toy chests
when they grew old, their children left the hearts
in hospital rooms...

they didn't think of it much.
seemed natural to lug it around.
everyone was so proud, that the machine chose them.
the prize was so soft, and familiar.

the machine, though.
could tell every day that it was missing.
held tightly onto the coins they left.
kept filling itself with junk and giving it to strangers
hoping one day they'd come back to play again.

a man comes by once in awhile to relieve him of his coin
then fills him full of new prizes to divvy out.
but the claw machine lodges some coins
far in the back, where his short arms can't reach
so he can remember

Hair be raven, golden,  russet,
And eyes be ebony, green or blue,
Lips be red dipped in wine,
Skin almond or a rosy hue.

Hands be frail, creased with lines,
Soles worn with cracked feet,
Spine bent a storm wrecked tree,
But a voice melodic sweet.

Waves wash in ****** waters,
Forests make a leafy throne ,
Petals make a crown of blossoms,
Mountains  mould a stone.

In the eyes dance reflections,
A mirror of what I can see,
You say I am not a stranger,
Then pray tell me who I be.

One by one, I drop a layer,
And still I be a whole,
Not this flesh that covers,
Within I am a soul.

From the depth
Of my broken heart
I send my love
Through the wind

From the depth
Of your broken heart
I feel the pain
In every beat

Maybe your hand
Never touched this skin of mine
But still.....
The caress lives within my soul

Maybe I've never seen you
Eye to eye
But the image of your face
Will never be erased from my sight

This longing
It's too painful to bear
Distance.....
It's tearing us apart
Where reality is nowhere
To be reached

I become.....
Something you couldn't embrace
Separated
By time and space

I'm the shadow
Of agonizing memory
No more me
As I fade into the darkness
Gone..... Within the night

-Jess / Jessabelle Autumn

It's okay to walk away
The others didn't stay,
I wouldn't love you any less.
I wish it were my heart
That tore us apart,
The trouble is my head.
A sorrow lives inside
That cannot be denied,
Poisonous to all who stay.
The prize ain't worth the fight
Doesn't mean it's right,
To leave me in the dark.
It's okay to walk away
I know that you can't stay,
I won't love you any less.

Blue
mixed with black;
bloodshot eyes and aching back.
Nobody notices that 
Atlas is now
a twenty-year-old girl
carrying a less than mediocre
world.

You see where we're different,
But I see where we're not.

And maybe that's a dangerous way to be,
But I think my ****** bleeding heart would rather go out this way.

Don't you see where we're the same, too?

We all live by the same philosophies,
Protect what is ours.

But what if we protected each other?
What if we were kind of kind to one another?

Show empathy and understanding,
Humans are much too wrapped up in being
"Individuals"
That we'd rather be bad and cruel and knock each other down
Than be the kind of individuals
We actually need.

And in our misunderstanding
Of each other and our similarities,
It saddens me to say,
We become even more
The same.