my hate for you
turns into hate for me
so when u ask me if I love myself
I want to scream no
but I smile, instead.

For the first time in a long time
I grab a plastic sandwich bag
Out of the drawer.
Wracked with guilt
I try to tell myself
It’s not the end of the world
And I’ll try harder
To be greener tomorrow.
I wonder
If that’s what the oil companies think too


NCL September 2019

There’s a darkness inside all of us
It starts out pretty small
But in everything we do, we feed it
Let it grow big and tall

This darkness is our truest self
The face we try to hide
A monster deep inside us
That simply just won’t die

Seemingly small and insignificant,
It sits atop my finger, like a bird perched on a branch.
A symbol of great power,
Yet shrunken and frail as paper.
Its hidden beauty rivals those of
Aphrodite.
My love for it swells
Like a well after a heavy rain.
Oh, this paper crown,
Its simple beauty
Is a gold as pure as any other.
Its paleness is greater than snow,
Its weight light, but heavier than
the empire it represents.
This paper crown, worthy of a Queen.

you can't do that
why do you want too
cover me up
present me to your white, sensitive, equantives
like a shiny gold token
shining through your broken dull heart

I started the process of memorizing you today

35 freckles on your right shoulder and a break in the cartilage on your right ear near the top was as far as I got

I think even if I have 100 more years in your arms, I'll never know how many individual hairs you have on your chin or why you sound like you're dying when you sleep

What an exciting thought
To never know all of you

I don't know if your I love you means what it means for me
Someday maybe I will

Or maybe I'll spend my whole life trying
To hear all your thoughts behind
the words
I love you

Scary laugh lines
Hide the pain
The eyes wide open, heavy
Wanting to rain the darkness
To see the light within
Withheld to masquerade
The dark side of life
One master stroke
To finish the piece
When the artist and the portrait
Merge in one