I want to tell you not to make my mistake.
I want to tell you not to build walls. You pick up brick by brick, hiding yourself in the structure you've created. You feel safe until you realize you are left alone, trapped in the cage you built to be a home, standing in darkness and suffocating among walls that won't reach out to help you.
I want to tell you I understand.
I want to tell you that I often draw up blueprints for my home. When the world gets too close to me, I sketch tall ceilings above strong walls. I plan elaborate architecture. I sketch large windows that allow for sun-drenched rooms and put details on tall towers until I have a magnificent mansion, knowing all along that it's just a clever disguise for the cage I must never let myself enter. Once you go in, it's very hard to break down the walls.
I want to tell you to give up your bricks.
I want to tell you that you will feel better when you let them go. When things are hard, your hands will twitch until you grab your drafting pen, you'll still set out sheets of paper and start thinking about your walls, but you'll feel better knowing you're only making plans. I know the bricks are heavy, but you don't have to move them alone. I want to tell you to ask for help.
I want to tell you to let Him carry them away.
I want to tell you to let them go.
I want to tell you to stop pretending.
I want to tell you everything will be okay.
I hope you can hear me through your walls.
I don't think you can.

Today I make a promise
To love myself with the light on
When I fail to see the beauty in my body

When I poke and squeeze and grab at my imperfections
I will use gentle hands to embrace my body
Securely holding my most precious gift

And when I fall short, my love deteriorating
My mind drowning in sorrow
Planting poisonous thoughts
Gruesome, self-loathing words
That seep in between the cracks in myself that I feebly hold together
When I neglect my body
Because I have the audacity to pretend
That I can love the swell of my stomach
the plump of my thighs

Times like this, when I see nothing but flaws
I will sit in solitude
Asking myself "Who am I"
And those answers will look past all superficial matters
Remembering that I am more than a body
I am a soul

I am a soul that laughs far too often
And thrives off spontaneous acts
One who fancies rainy mornings in coffee shops
Who can lose herself in a book for hours upon hours
One who yearns to fall in love with every corner of the world
And one who walks through book stores, tracing her fingers on every binding

So when I contemplate my image
I will remind myself of the beauty in my sleepy eyes
Discover the worth in my curves
Realize that my scars show my strength at my weakest moments
Pretend that my freckles are kisses left my those watching over me
Revel at how my veins glisten dark blue against the pale of my skin
And how they come together to form a heart on the front of my right hand
Because I'd like to believe that it is a reminder that my body loves me.
Every cell in my body fights for me

Today I make a promise
To find peace within my mind
That I will find beauty regardless of my size

Today I make a promise.
When I say that I love myself
I will mean every single letter.

I don't believe in god, she said
and I tell her it's okay and it is
It's okay to choose science
It's okay to not believe in something you can't see
because a lot of people believe in almighty, invisible, love
and end up broken by people who have never heard the word
It's okay to be angry when things go all wrong
It's okay
I will love you as if nothing is different and it is okay
but when I stand in the pews,
surrounded by song and smiles,
I feel sorry for her*
because life has picked me up and thrown me down
and God caught me, dusted me off, took me in his arms, and said it's okay
I love you as if nothing is different and it is okay
I believe in God because of the two girls who hear the gospel and smile
like they are receiving birthday gifts,
their brows furrowed in concentration before they speak,
trying to bring His words to life in their voices,
trying to bring His vision to the eyes of everyone around them,
they smile all through Mass every time like it is the best day of their lives
you can't make up something like that
whether you think He is real or not
you cannot fake the look on their faces when they speak
you cannot fake the inspiration I feel hearing them
you cannot fake the community that surrounds me
as I am surrounded by singing and smiles
to you He may not exist but to me He is everything
I believe in God because fathers drown themselves
one night at a time in a bar
until they are washed away
and families are shattered,
leaving bits of glass and cuts on wives
and half-orphaned children
and somehow those children keep going
somehow they survive the worst day of their lives
and somehow they still hope for something better than what they had
even when they were dealt the worst cards,
they still smile and laugh and dream the biggest dreams
and somehow those wives still go to Mass
and somehow they raise three children alone
and they work too ******* hard for not enough rewards
and they keep going even though they could quit
and they are all scarred by this one thing, but He tells them he has given them to each other and to look at their scars and to look for shattered glass around other people and to minimize the cuts and scrapes they feel and to sweep it up before anyone steps on it
I believe in God because when I think about all of the things my life could have been
the only way for me to forgive him is to pile each complaint like coals in my heart and let the Holy Spirit light it on fire
I believe in God because two people who numb themselves with pills, hide themselves in selfishness, and deserve nothing but the worst
were blessed with an angel in the form of a four foot tall boy
with bright eyes and a quick mind
with a smile that lights a room
with happiness that is impossible to hide
with curiosity that is unending
with everything that they are not
and yet He gave them a chance to make themselves into something better
and, just in case, he gave the boy an aunt and an uncle and some cousins to watch over him
but his parents can not complain that they were never blessed
the proof is in the boy's smile, his young mind, still able to forgive them

I believe in God because nothing will ever be perfect
I will complain and be hurt and hold grudges and never know exactly the right thing to say
But, once, I picked up each of my fears like bricks, setting it down on a sheet of paper
and I watched it burn in His name
And I felt lighter than the smoke that the breeze carried up and into the night
And everything was okay

I believe in God because if I can't have one stable thing somewhere out there
what is left for me to believe in?

I hope she finds something, too

Why do I still feel like dying?
Why do I feel so ready to push a knife through my heart, and happy to feel the pain of my life bleed away?
Is that strange?
I don't know if it is anymore
And that makes the choice even worse
~sigh~
If only for it was my time
I'd lie in a restful peaceful slumber
A slumber that would last forever
and makes this life seem beautiful far away and ugly right in front of me
That life is right now
Not in front of me
And I can only wait for it to end or to end it myself
for which I can't
Death has laughed at me many a time and I seek him everyday
When I'm alone and weary
I wish for his embrace and his cold death kisses touching my lips and helping me fade away from my misery and into blissful death
Everyday I wish for this but I never receive it no matter how hard I've tried to touch him
He's too far and too wise to let me touch him
Oh Death, how could I miss you? How could I crave you so deeply, when we have only brushed paths but never met or seen each other?

Please take note:
1. Give your heart to the boy with the crescent moon smile. Make sure it appears whole and perfect.
2. When he breaks it, tell him it's only a scratch. Polish it and hand it back to him with a smile. Do not hand him the magnifying glass. Do not let him see all of the other cracks. He has too many of his own, and you'll spend your time wishing you could fix them.
3. When someone lets you see the rough edges of themselves where the seams have been ripped and re-sewn, give them a hug and a smile and tell them that they are loved, tell them that you will listen. Talk to them like you would talk to yourself. To do this you will need to pretend you are normally honest with yourself. Do not ask them why it happened -- it is over now. Do not try to erase the scars -- they are there for a reason. They are scars for a reason. The body has healed them. Do not try to fix something that has healed. You will say too much and regret it.
4. When the boy asks you if you are upset tell him yes. Your smile is not strong enough for him to believe it. Do not tell him why you are upset. You are too strong to let it leave your lips. Do not let the cracks show.
5. If you are afraid or upset or lonely, write it down. Your words will seem silly in the broad light of day, but the feeling of pen on paper or fingers on keys will put you at ease. Let yourself be at ease. Listen to something beautiful and let yourself get sleepy. Let whatever emotion you are feeling come out as a sigh before you shut your eyes. Let sleep and music and words written be the charms that keep it away. Breathe out. Do not let the cracks show.
6. When you cry at something that should make you smile and your friends look at you like you're crazy do not explain. Tell them that you just can't contain your happiness. Do not tell them the way your heart feels hard and heavy in your chest and that the gift they sent you or compliment they paid you took the burden of hiding your emotions from your face just long enough for your eyes to let a few tears escape. They will not understand. Do not let the cracks show.
7. Finally, when you are alone and the door is closed and every living soul is gone and every emotion is pushing on the cracks from the inside out, let yourself be broken. Pour sadness and anger and hurt on the floor like a broken glass pours out wine. Look at everything you have spilled. Feel the shame from the first time you were broken and then feel nothing more. Grab a mop and clean the floor. Grab a towel and take a bath. When you are empty and naked and still alone, pick up each piece of yourself from the floor. Glue them together and smooth the seams away. Paint them to match your skin and polish them until they can't be seen. Get dressed. Fill yourself with food, music, writing, and smiles. Do not let the cracks show.

Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A beating so timed and rhythmic that it's scary.
What the heart wants, the heart gets.
You can't fool it.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Never stopping.
A comfort, but also a threat.
It'll keep you alive, but consume and want as long as it still beats.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Feed it your hate, and it will wither.
Water it with lies, and it will blacken.
Sow negativity, and almost surely it will show through in your actions.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
But wait, there's hope.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Feed your passions and love affairs to the heart and it is content as long as you are.
Feed it your dreams, and it will set your path.
Feed it positivity, and you will see the effects all around you.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Are you aware of the life coursing through you?
Can you feel the energy you feed it influencing you?
I hope so.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.

           m.h.

Hopelessness is swallowing me.
For all my life I've been it's prey.
Sometimes strong, sometimes weak,
I've always managed to hold on,
but my grip is loosening.

My dreams have been squelched
and my imagination is fading.
I'm tired of pushing boulders uphill
only to watch them roll back down.
My shiny glaze of compassion has dulled.

Flaccid are my heartstrings,
flying ramdomly like torn ribbons
on a misguided kite.
Where can I escape and become
someone else somewhere else?