Although no one wants
someone who is broken,
I would like to believe
that love can be found
in the darkest parts of the city.
A love that perhaps
will kiss my scars upon first glance,
rather than deciding to go back
to where I found them,
never to be seen again.

❝  ❞

“ Ｈｏｗ  ａｒｅ  ｙｏｕ? ”
            s/he asked.

So, I answered

“ I'm

       B R  O  K E  N
       E
       T
       R
       A N X I O U S
       Y
       E
       D

                L
                O

                N
                E
                L
                Y

       N           E   V
       E      R              G  
       O  O                     D
       E                           N
       O                           U
       G                           H

                F     R     U
          S                        T
        R                            A
       T                              E
       D     F      R      A     G
       I
        L
         E
            D   Y    I    N    G


Sorry for not telling the truth
I just don't want you to worry.
I would rather choose to keep it
Deep inside me.

Summer

Summer

Summer

Summer

I watched as the sun broke over the horizon.
It occurred to me that nothing
In its most natural essence
Could ever be more beautiful.
Nothing could be more constant
Than the sun rising and setting
East to west
Every dusk and dawn.

I wondered
Why couldn't I be as beautiful
As that sky on which my eyes were fixed?
After all
They do say
We're made up of those same particles;
We may as well be one with the stars.

So, if in fact, that statement is true
How could I be so cold and dark?
Why does the darkness inside me
Never dissipate with a rising sun.
Why don't the kaleidoscopic colors
Infiltrate my darkness.

With the rising sun
And the pinks and purples spreading across the early morning sky
I wonder why I will never be anything other than
Dark.

Lips swollen
Wrists hurting
Pain between her legs.

What happened last night?

She wakes in a foreign room
Her clothes disheveled
Scattered on the floor.
A thin sheet barely covering
Her aching body.

They took her pride
They took her dignity.
They commanded control
Of the body she could not
Control herself.

Hazy with alcohol
Uninhibited by intoxication
They used it to their advantage
Stole her pride violently
Ravished her body.
And did so proudly.
A barely there girl-
They stole everything from her.

Bruises stamped along her body
Pain between her legs
Swollen lips
And empty chest
Are what she is left with.
While they are even more prideful
Full of her life
That they eagerly stole.

As he pulls me closer
Squeezing me as if to reaffirm my presence
I couldn't be further away
Further from him and closer to you.
His arms are big and strong
Warm and soft; arms anyone could get used to.
But they will never be yours
The ones I wished would never let me go
How I wish his would loosen their firm grip.

He kisses my cheek
Warm soft kisses
The kind that every girl wishes
A man would tenderly plant on the rounded softness of her cheek
But those kisses are quaint at best
And I never wish for more than that small tenderness
Instead I wish for the passion
That crackled the air around you and I

Miles away
I'm sure you are
Sharing a similar moment simultaneously
But instead of my touch boring in your memory
As the absence of yours runs my skin cold
You're thinking of just how happy you are
To have new, never thinking of the old

you told me i should paint my nails red
as you studied the dark shade of gray
they were painted at the time
so dark they were almost black

it wasn’t me you wanted
to change her nail color
it’s the girl you thought i could be
perhaps the girl you wanted me to be

so i guess it’s fitting
you moved on
i bet her favorite color is
red

Wastes of space, we the scapegrace, blank expressions, poker face.

You're my ace, ahead in the race, they're second place, a futile chase.

Stakes growing higher like an untamed fire, their inevitable pyre, situations dire.

Those who were bold, i watched their hands fold, those who seemed braver, i watched as they waivered, as they fretted and regretted, i watched their faces fall, like a delicate house of cards, gingerly balanced, standing tall.

But i have nout to fear, for my secret ace is here, hidden up my sleeve, to which i dearly cleave, they all want to believe, as losing's what they fear, but losing's all they'll get, while my secret ace is near.