paisley prints and ripped tights
early mornings and late nights
small pockets of the world
that feel like they partly belong to me
from how often I'm frequenting,
arriving, and even after departing
I've got the muscle memory
but there's some streets
I'll never go down again
unless I'm transported against my will
with a sharp scent that rushes nostalgia
and transports me back to the trauma
or just the melancholy
of a time in life I'll never get back
time has fallen off it's tracks
and I'm somewhere in the middle of the crash
between the beginning and the end
sometimes I feel like I'm playing pretend
looking at myself from the outside in

I never wanted your hands on me anyway
You haunt me still in so many ways

I didn't know much back then
I think about it now and again
different skin
I want to burn the memories
take you back out
from in
me
and
you never quit screaming
passionately
but
never agressively
...that was all me
and
I know I was so young
I look back and feel ashamed
of infatuating feelings
desperate
for you to want me
to desire me
because when I love
I do it
with too much of me
it's like I keep forgetting

i don't want to forget the country roads
that shaped me
formed me
healed me....
the roads
i have dropped to my knees in despair
within
cropped in
fighting my sins
with a lens and a shutter
looking for solace in turning glass
nothing last forever...
the country is my church

I'm still wearing my mourning like a second skin
I want to rip it off and jump back in
and feel the safeness of my walls ridding me of my sin
of ever stepping outside of my walls to begin with...
Because it's been 10 years since I've have a heart ache in this way
it's been 10 years since I've let someone back in my heart this way...
Posting on socials about how I'm so in love
and how deep down I was so afraid of it blowing up
back in my face like it always does
whenever I show the world and let myself fall in love...
and it's shouldn't feel so embarrassing
but I'm allowing myself to feel everything
and right now that's part of it
I showed my heart and got it ****** with
This is one of the longer winters I have felt
I am ready for spring, I need it to melt
take your name with it
distorted on concrete like an oil slick

hard to love
hard to find the time
unambitious obsessive compulsive
the small details are repulsive
reaching for anything to grab on to
under water and blue
you're always wondering what I'm up to
stop saying you want to pick at my brain
I pick at it enough on my own
sometimes I feel that if I screamed loud enough
I could burst myself into flames
passion burns brighter than most things
and winter was more than just a season
it's a state of mind that I'm ready to shake off
where there hell have I been the past three years?
I don't recognize my body
I don't recognize my mind
I'm losing track of time
but I'm on the upswing
at least, I think
I've got to swim, not sink

When I was young
everyone’s house had a signature scent
I’m not sure where time went since then
but nostalgia can still be conjured up so easily
whether it’s from chlorine pools or beef jerky
crisp winter air can make me feel heavy
mixed with stale cigarettes and a chevy
heavy exhaust, oil leaks, rusting
lime chips and PlayStation 3, losing
telling the gas station clerk my boyfriend dumped me
high off fumes of my own misery
it sure liked your company
but I kept things moving
I remember the fresh snowfall on dimly lit streets, burn cruising
cigarette stains on callused fingers catching on the fabric of my jeans
secondhand smoke still smells good to me
depending on what you’re smoking
I want to forget so many feelings
and relive so many more
nostalgia is so thick lately that it’s seeping into my pores
I miss too much
And not enough
I’m not good at showing love

Humidity on me
feeling like condensation forming
my skin is the plastic shell
and there's so much I'm bottling
Everything I can't speak on freely
tired of being only worthy of your lusting
and never your loving
you tell me your deepest secrets
but let's keep things casual
I wanna know what you're thinking about me
but it's always someone else, something
And that's okay, I get it
I'm not easing to give loving to
time took me down a valley
and I'm not sure if I ever ended up exiting
just sat on the ledge kicking my feet
before I grabbed your skateboard
and dropped back in willingly
I wanna float back up
but I forgot how much crawling it took to get to the edge
my fingernails are always busted
so it's hard to feel my scratching
but I hope you at least know I'm there
inbetween the creases of your brain's waves
kicking my feet on the surface

it comes in waves. i creep into old habits after i taste the nostalgia. chasing down thoughts after triggers doesn't taste as sweet as deju vu does, and i'm finding myself absent from my current reality. i'm stuck spiraling in visions and past versions of myself that i don't recognize as ever holding truth, but they do, and did. i'm simultaneously trying too hard and not trying at all.

I'm not feeling
very familiar
I've got an itch
on my brain
that moves linear
bruising on a foreign bed
tongue tied
and in my head

i am a pro
at not being able to know
what “too much information” is

when it's mid-beat
i'll make your mind take a seat

i'm artist turned narcisstic
so what i've got to say
i think it's gonna make you wonder the same
i usually think it's gonna save your day

but what is too much information
and why do i have to measure it for you
why do you want all of my information handed over to you
and in which format this information is measured,
i haven't got a single clue.
when the digital screen reads "uncomfortable"?
when the red arrow reaches "too"?

too much information is a concept i may not know,
but i know what i don't want to give you.
my time isn't measured like your information
gotta wonder why my time being observed on your time too

so, yeah, i've got information.
but not a single dose for you
i've got heart and i've got time

i can never have too much
because i don't have enough
all while never knowing
who even gives a ****

you wanna hear me complain ?
doubt it
i don't want to hear you
i get it
i'm vain
what else do you want me to say
i don't have fancy word play
but i still have things to say
and ideas to marinate in your brain

meet me half-way

I worry sometimes
I'm never going to be over losing you...
you were my girl first,
everyone knows that's true...
and that sounds elementary,
but I don't have time to worry
about how I sound to everyone else
lies are what broke it apart anyway...

& what harm will being real do
rather than being fake
& why do I miss someone
who believed a ******* snake...
over me...
(the snake that so easily
wedged itself in-between...)

& looking back doesn't do any good, either...
who I used to be is lost in a grudge, help me free her...

I tell myself every passing year
a real friend wouldn't let ******* in a single ear...
and lie to my face when I see it in her...
ring the bell, we've got a ******* winner,
of the longest trail of ******* ever laid...
I started out saying I miss you,
but I'm glad you never stayed.
what a shame.

my memories exist
like cinematic moments
of excellence
of sadness
of beauty
of cruelty
in my mind
all the time
I remember every shadow
every shade of blue
I remember you
I still feel you
I've told you my brain is always busy
I mean it and it's exhausting
I'm stoic and vague
distracted like it's a plague
I've been wearing the same old flannel  
for three ******* weeks straight
I want to be good
I want to feel good
damaged goods
but I'm good

short lived passion with boys
that cut their lips on their own words
cracking mouths and cracking voices
cracking knuckles and cracking backs

hollow gazes
overwhelming anger
off & on in stages
boring & predictably maddening
emotionally manipulating
verbally abusing
I never thought I'd end up dealing
with ******* of this caliber
but I had to learn
how to rip it off and burn
like a tick burrowing in to my skin
one pull isn't good enough
there needs to be burn marks or it isn't done
because you were my own personal parasite
a ride or die I didn't ask for, no end in site
when all I want is you to leave me alone
caught me in a vulnerable state
and called it a date
you're delusional if you thought this would last
there's no future here, only a past
no more throat burning nonsense
emotional walls stained with incense
and you claim they're all convictions
that you just happen to forget over night
there's nothing left in me to fight
months of running the **** away from you
told me to go **** myself? you can too
you need someone weaker
and I'm not her

nostalgic
for the honest ****
bathroom floors in friend's apartments
ten dollar bleach kits
orange tint
drinks and joints lit
feeling it now
drunk and confessing my sorrows
high anxiety
because
things come back and bite you if you're not careful
be aware of what you confide in strangers
and
I'm telling myself constantly
to appreciate my privacy
because I always get stuck regretting
the minute after letting someone in
and
back then
it was so easy
the early and mid 20s
lucy changed me
molly made it carefree
while maryjane remains centering
I wonder what you're wondering
are you wondering about me?
no one has ever wanted to know
why it's hard to love me
they only want to know why it wasn't easy
and then leave
some days it's still lonely
pity party planner of one, no need for an RSVP
I know it's only me
in my head, sort of drowning
wandering antique stores, buying stranger's found things
there's magic in the history, sadness in the poetry
rust and broken seams
take my heart strings
pluck them from me
I'd like you to try harder to please me
gotta turn off these ******* feelings first
I forget where this is going

Been about a month now
since you skipped out
You romanticized me for so many years
I was bound to let you down
only so much time could pass
before you wouldn't want me around
And hey baby that's cool
just wish I didn't break my own rules
rules you never even knew
but you'd have stomped over those too, if you did
I hate how you'd talk to me like I was a ******* kid
meanwhile I had to remind you to brush your teeth
remind me again how you were so much better than me...
A self-proclaimed, self-aware, self-diagnosing, king
pursuing me while you still had a ring?
"I just haven't done the paperwork, it's nothing"
Doesn't sound much like royalty to me
sounds like a mess without loyalty
to anyone but himself.
I hope you get over yourself--for your health.

you are making roots in my chest
that burst through my brain
you drive me insane

past exteriors and your fingerprints that cover them

you told me it's like
i have sparks in my head
i told you i liked
the way i felt in your bed
but choices are choices
and they're mine alone
it's not about feeling small comforts
it's about feeling at home

A cog in the machine
A devastated dream

Shed another layer, believe another lie
If I had tried to, I know you would have ****** me that night
just to leave me the next day
I'm happy you didn't get to me that way..
I listened to my body, it said not to let you in
and maybe it's not exactly what thought I wanted then,
but I'm glad you'll never touch me again...
Because the only time I feel desired shouldn't be when we ****
I'm a goddess, you're not worthy, and I wish you best of luck

I want authentic honesty
the kind that cuts me open and grips me
the kind that's sinking
but also triggers hoping
for a lesson or a blessing
for a broken curse or a universal testing  
that stretches out my wings and frees me
I do not want anything that is fleeting
I want everything and I want nothing
I've got a lot to say about some things
and a lot to say about nothing
not sure if you're listening
but I want to keep talking
I want to keep this feeling
it's a sign of what makes me unsteady
losing grip of a controlled reality
but I'm too ******* busy
mostly in my brain
you never enter it the same way you came

I’m not always in a state of tragedy, my art helps take it out of me. Perhaps it’s bittersweet to not always resemble what you create on the surface. I think it just means you have to dig a little deeper. Vulnerability is laboring.

Locked inside
the iron shell casing around my brain lately
I don't mean to be moody
I just want different feelings sometimes
Rewriting the rules is my favorite past time
And I know I've got you on the line
Like a bird on a wire in my mind
Softly buzzing
I've been mixing new ideas with yours
And it's put me down an interesting course
I'm not getting lost this time

you know I'm like the moon
I shine in darkness
so I seek it

Wish I was a little more present
Wish I was a little more kind
Wish my brain didn’t move so fast
Wish you weren’t on my mind

My dreamland
is never soft or warm
but I find comfort in it still

Maybe I'm not as strong as I let on
but it's how I crave to be perceived
to anyone who sees..
I want to be seen as resilient,
watch me fight through it
The same old heartbreak *******, we've all seen it...
And the familiar disappointment
of only seeing the red flags in hindsight
This pain and bull isn't sustainable,
but maybe I'm addicted to the thrill...
Love me so deeply you want to ****
The same way loving a toxic man
kills off all of my will
to keep my hands & mind busy
in my own ******* orbit
so I do anything I can
to subconsciously destroy it
And then without even realizing,
suddenly I'm drowning
I'm so tired of getting ****** in
and getting pulled out to sea
victimized by someone
constantly victimizing themselves of something
is just as confusing as it is entirely exhausting
So when I finally break free,
I keep running like there's no tomorrow
And while I don't believe I'm necessarily hiding from my sorrow,
I think I just don't know how to greet it yet;
I don't know how to treat it yet...
Another heartbreak on a list of crass men
that I'm still getting used to the greyscale
of taking off my rosy sights from...
I want to have rose colored glasses
that don't need wearing
but rather, embodying
because they say sometimes it's just about your perspective
so I'm adapting to new ways that I can shift and shape it
I feel it all, I bury it, I dig it up, and then create ****

No future here, only a past
No more throat burning nonsense
Emotional walls stained with incense
You need someone weaker
and I'm not her

seems fitting
your name starts
with what is known as the beginning
but ends with an x
like you put over my face
in every memory
like forgery
write me off
because soon enough
i'll stop missing you

I want to factory reset my heart
I gotta find the hidden button
All I need is a safety pin
and no fear to commit to it
But that's easier said than done, isn't it?
Because being vulnerable is alarming
and standing strong in it is daunting
I'm being wound up like a mechanical toy
and expecting to provide new tricks
You're sight seeing in my body cavity
and expecting it to be a little less scary
I come with some darkness baby
I should have warned you, but you didn't warn me
And isn't that a little terrifying?
Going in blind with someone you think is interesting
not knowing the history of their hauntings
mean while I'm just hoping
that you don't find my ghosts before I find yours
I wanna find out the strength of my possessor
before they take over
Because I go zero to a hundred in less time than most
My brain gets taken over and I'm only the host
While you're still window shopping women
and I'm still window shopping men
Until the possessor loses grip
and I start to feel better again
I wanna find that button

masochistic, maybe
I like the pain
it's something I crave
give me something new to work with
rip me open
give me new eyes to see with
I feel it
sadness grips me, it never misses me
it's a part of me,  I dance with it soulfully
darkness is freeing
it's a chance to meet your demons
it's melancholy, baby
I'm the melancholy lady
tip toeing on lines between different parts of me
wandering around not very gracefully
not really wondering what you think about me
it's too overwhelming to let that **** get to me
right now I should be sleeping

watch out for the weight
they should say
after you fall in love and fall into place
watch out for the weight
you'll learn how easy it is to stay in
when it's just you and him
watch the world spin
where the **** do i get in
and how the **** do i get out
when the spinning stops blurring
and it's all black
and my words are slurring
you've got me ******* & cut off
circulations burst from string and it's stinging
i'm a purple and blue hue
feeling like a walking bruise
words pack more punch than they used to
i don't really mind hurting
you gave everything & that's true
what can break isn't broken
it just needs time and space to soak in

Another creepy man
defending another
projecting their narratives
to erase the other
Especially if the other
is coming from a woman's lips
How dare you speak boldy!
someone shut her up with a kiss!
How dare you speak shamelessly
about the men who made you feel unsafe
How dare you turn a scary thing
into something with a funny face
I don't need to prove to you or any man
that where I belong is my current space.
And I will continue to take it up!
If you're thirsty, grab a sippy cup
grow the **** up

Memories only I remember
You had to be there
But you were gone

i am feeling restless and unwell
i am feeling less mess and more similar to hell
hearing the bell isn't making me take a seat
i'm tired of talking out of my *** to everyone i meet
like i have something to say from my lips
most assume it's all just in my hips
but it's in my hands and it's in my heart
it's in my brain and it comes out in my art

i was told confessing thoughts
even if they aren't necessarily secrets
can be healing.
well i had really terrifying dreams as a child.
i wish i spoke up back then.
i wish i told someone how much they actually scared me.
because it's years later
and i'm not a little girl anymore.
the things that are terrifying me
exist in my reality
or in my irrationality...
and i'm rubbing my eyes at 4:00am
with the illusion
that reality is up in the clouds
with the rest of the memories from my childhood
that taught me what fear was.
not really real
not really there
in my imagination.
or at least i could pretend.
what was reality in my childhood that scared me
i never told a soul.
my secret keeping skills were gold.
and while the plot thickens
and my skin stretches into it's 23rd year
my dreams slip through my fingers.
and my soles are soaked.

you give me nostalgia, baby
I've got butterflies, it's crazy
you are rose colored glasses personified
you are all the romance I have glorified
and sometimes vilified..
after too many faults of past lovers confused my psyche
too many faults of my past loving mocking me... internally...
while externally, you've got me tongue tied and dizzy
I'm falling into a daze from your vibrato
while you strum your guitar and sing in the echo
I just want to stare at your aura
dive right in and start exploring...
got me feeling sensations I haven't felt for so long
vulnerability usually makes me feel weak,
but it's hard to feel anything but stronger
lately
I wanna spend time with you longer
you give me nostalgia, baby
for memories we haven't even made,
it's crazy

Ingrained in me, stuck with me.
The darkness never really leaves.
It hides until it starts to bleed.
An old friend returning dramatically.
Traumatically.
Bold as can be.
The company longed for by misery.
I’ve become less afraid of it lately.
It’s hiding.
The sun is shining.
I can make it out to the other side fine then.
Just keep finding the light.

the contrast between you presently
and the you that I knew past tensely
have altered so much willingly
I wonder which side of you is your pose...
can't say anyone really knows...
but can you even say you do?
is anything behind or below your lip's flow true?
forget it and put your walls up
forget it and put your fists up
defenses against those who admire you
will only make you burst into flames
you can pretend there's different levels
of small town fame
but I'll remember you just the same
be careful who you throw dirt to
it'll be that same dirt that buries you

i'm not feeling very familiar
i've got an itch on my brain that moves linear
got myself tongue tied in my head
got myself bruising from springs on a foreign bed

i told you i needed you
you said you were going to go to bed

tough exteriors distorted like broken mirrors
spines don't form by breaking another's
mistakes have power to mentally stay forever
but shadows can't stop light from entering in
and i can't remove you from under my skin

it seems we're both empty
looking for a fill
like a pill
heart racing, **** chasing
are you counting
down the seconds
until penetrating
over it
I'm tired of waiting
bored again
humidity
I'm sweating
you come with a warning
like I'm coming in with a crash landing
I wanna be the only one left standing
intentionally
you're wrong for me
*** is only ***
when you disconnect unintentionally

You've got me
on a roller coaster of emotions
And such is life
but
I wanna feel my feet on ground

Butterflies in my stomach coming for my throat
I'll never be afraid of speaking up ever again

Been listening to the saddest playlists I can muster
while some have only been on the back burner
just waiting for the next heartache to come my way
it's a shame you never really calmed my anxiety's shakes
codependence turned into despondence and headaches
I woke up in your arms day after day
even the day you officially ran the other way
and left me there still shaking
I couldn't have ran after you even if I had been ready
I'd been trudging through the mud for too long already
and lately I've been forgetting what you feel like
I'm still waiting to decide how I feel about that

when does even love
become no longer enough
to save us