is a black cat
with white paws
one stitched back up
from where she finally burst
at the end of her long
silky black tail
is a white tip
that I would chew on when I was young
her eyes are green
her nose pink
I've had her since I can remember
My beautiful stuffed bella

you drive a black truck
with silver accents
and now
every time I see one similar
my heart freezes
and anxiety builds
you always parked it
in the same spot
and you watched me
I know you did
I tried to erase it
but the image remains
of your stupid
stupid black truck
with the silver accents

I wish you would break me
quit hitting me just hard enough to fracture
and break me already
i'm tired of gluing the pieces back together
i'm tired of the lies
the makeup
the blinking away tears from my eyes
just woman up
and break me already

jagged sharp broken
glass
of a picture frame
broken sharp jagged
memories
of the people portrayed

I talk to him, biting back tears
He goofs off, makes me laugh
He comes in, late at night
Tells me everything, values my opinion
I vent to him, him to me
He doesn’t judge when he sees the real me
Keeps me sane, provides me humor
In a few months, he’ll be gone
Cap thrown in the air, waving goodbye
He’ll be glad to be out, but he’ll leave me behind
And I’ll cry every night, missing his voice
Missing his sturdy presence in my life
He’s someone to lean on, someone to cry to
But he won’t shed a tear, pretend he never has
But I’ve seen him cry, because I’ve seen him at his worst
Just as he’s seen me at mine
He’ll call when he’s gone, but it won’t be the same
Because there will be no more secret smiles
No more looks exchanged across a room
No more conversations made with only our eyes
No more secrets kept just between him and me
He’s been right by my side my whole life
And now it feels like I might die
Now that he won’t be there to make me laugh when I cry

a candy cane carnation
is mostly white but tinged
With red
Red, like blood
for the people who made you bleed
White, like innocence
for who you were before you bled
I think I could be
a candy cane carnation

your words are the chain
that I will drag as a ghost
every word
a new link
clink
clink
clink
by the time you are done
my chain's a mile long
and your fist
is the shackle 'round my ankle
and your heart
bruised and beaten and battered
is the ball at the end of the chain
'till I
clatter
clatter
clatter
anytime I move

I live my life as a fake
Chameleon, blending in with my surroundings
Changing to your liking
You want me happier?
I’ll turn up the corners of my reptilian mouth
You don’t like the way I speak?
I’ll change the tone of my fast-flicking tongue
You don’t like me to have friends?
I’ll flick them away with my long, scaly tail
You don’t like the way I dress?
I’ll blur my colors with my ever-shifting scales
I’ll change
Again and Again
Until I’m the perfect image of who you think I should be
Until I’m confused on who I was before
Until I look more like you
The perfect little chameleon, me

I didn't want to hate you
but you leave me no choice
I just wanted to love you
but you chose to leave me

I wore long sleeves
to hide the scars
I controlled the amount of pain I was allowed to feel
to make up for the pain you caused
that I was not in control of

I’m struggling, I need a way to cope
Glide through my skin like paper
Smoke into my lungs, sweet vapor
You can only see my pain through a microscope

I think of everything I go through daily
the hitting, the screaming
the narcissism, the manipulation
the abuse
and I think
Could be worse
so I end up being grateful that at least
I got food to eat and somewhere to sleep
a school to go to and siblings that care
I look at the bigger picture
instead of allowing myself to feel like a victim
because that mindset will get me nowhere
so I cope in silence and just be thankful
because it could be worse

i'm scared that when I have kids
i'll parent just like her
or her
drugs and abandonment on one end
abuse and manipulation on the other
I don't know how to end the cycle
when I see myself in the reflection of both of their eyes

means disgracefully bad
awfully vile
Extremely evil or cruel
Got me thinking
That's a good word for you

I'll let you die happy
I won't tell you how you hurt me
I'll let you live in blissful peace
without the knowledge of my pain
you deserve to be happy
even if that means quelling my anger

don't
tell me my feelings aren't real!
don't
tell me I don't matter!
don't
tell me I'm too much to handle!
don't
tell me I'm not worthy!
don't
tell me I'm not deserving!
don't
tell me I'm not smart!
don't
tell me I'm not pretty!
don't
because I will believe you

i make up dumb excuses
like
i ran into a wall
because maybe secretly i want them to know
the real reason
behind the black skin around my eye

look at whatever you want
just not at my fingernails
bitten down to the quick
please

I asked you for a hair tie
but it wasn't for my hair
and surely you don't know
that it is still
encircling my wrist
twisting around my fingers
every now and then and again
I asked you for a hair tie
but it wasn't for my hair
I always need something to fiddle with
to busy my hands, my fingers
so they don't do anything dangerous
I asked you for a hair tie
but it wasn't for my hair
it was simply to protect my sanity

I blink, and I’m different
I don’t recognize who I see
I look in the mirror
At a face that is far from pretty
This girl, her eyes are sad
I look away in disgust
No love for her to be had
This girl, her face reveals hate
Hatred for herself
A common trait
This girl, she can’t stand to see
Her own face, without wanting to be
Someone else
I blink, and I’m different
I don’t recognize who I see
I look in the mirror
This girl, she is me.

We were sitting in the park
I was six, my brother seven
I love you, she told us
Our once-a-monthly visit
That she missed more then she made
I'm working hard to get you back
I'm trying to stay clean
So you can come and live with me
I never told her what I really felt
So here are those words now
I needed you to save me
I needed you to want me
But I guess the drugs were a stronger force
Then the love you should have felt for your kids
Now I live in hell
And I swear its all your fault

I have fallen in love
but it's not what you think
in just a few short days
I am hopelessly in love
with these poems I have read
these people
this tiny corner of the internet
this tight-knit community
of misunderstood people
And I am so thankful
that I was welcomed with open arms
by all these lovely, talented artists
who splay their minds on a platter
for everyone to peruse
I am not deserving
so thank you, my small but loyal band!

you say...
you're a bad person
you're a liar
you're gonna end up in jail
you're a thief
you're gonna be on drugs
you're ugly
you're just like your mom
you'll never succeed
well guess what
you're my inner voice

just a random girl
that walks around this school
her clothes are baggy
I wonder if she hates her body?
she smokes
and drinks
I wonder what she's trying to forget?
Her eye makeup
almost as dark as my own
her hair even darker
I wonder if her demons
are as dark as her makeup?
her backpack straps slung low
her pockets always full
I wonder what secrets she keeps?
Her eyes, big and thoughtful
Like they contain millions of unsaid words
I wonder what she would say?
If not always silenced
I wonder about her
like maybe she's just like me

Blacked my eye
but I won't cry
Screamed in my face
but I won't cry
Called me names
but I won't cry
I won't
I repeat
I refuse
To shed another tear for you

just a girl with some demons
but they don't define her
Because sometimes she skips instead of walks
sometimes she laughs for no reason
sometimes she tells stupid jokes
sometimes she loves so hard it hurts
sometimes she purposely avoids her reflection
sometimes she sings at the top of her lungs
and she loves her brothers and sisters and friends
and sometimes she cries herself to sleep
and sometimes she complains about nothing
and she writes bad poetry
and she spends hours inside a book
and sometimes she questions everything
but she's just a girl

just once
I want to be called beautiful
I wont believe you anyways
but i'll want to
just once I want you to tell me i'm worth it
I won't trust you
but i'll try
just once I want you to see me
i'll pretend you weren't looking at me
but i'll know
just once I want to be told i'm perfect
flaws included
but I won't believe you

how can you look at me
and only see my flaws?
and feel the need to point them out
like I don't agonize over them
every second
of every day?
how can you tell me
that i'm less than
when i'm trying to heal
and make myself feel more than?

One thing I like about
me
is that I'm nothing like
you
and I never will
be
Someone who loves how it sounds when they
speak
you're not telling the
truth
no you're just being
mean

I went outside just to cry had this look in your eye like you'd
won
Oh but I can't be surprised you care less the more damage you've
done

One thing I like about
me
is that I'm nothing like
you
and I never will
be
someone who loves how it sounds when they
speak
you're not telling the
truth
no you're just being
mean

She was your best friend
He was her boyfriend
And yet it was you
I caught kissing him in the dark hallway
The most nefarious betrayal
you got mad I told
and caught me outside
at night in the parking lot
Threw me up against the gym wall
by my throat
I had the bruises to prove it but you got no punishment
She was your best friend
He was her boyfriend
Now she's my best friend
And he's your boyfriend
I really hope you're happy :)

I know I shouldn't do it
but I do it anyway
lift it to my mouth
and breathe the pain away
breathe in the smoke of calm
its just a breathing exercise
right?

on the outside I am happy
perfectly normal
I act like every single one of you
I dress the same way, style my hair the same
Every day
but if you peel back the many layers
that I have created to cover my true self
you'll find darkness and turmoil and weeping screaming scars
i'm tired of dressing and acting like you guys
I'm tired of pretending to be normal
when all I want is to slice open and let the pain bleed down the drain
till maybe I will be normal

last week
I grew out my nails
and then you screamed at me
and I dug them into my palm
until it bled
What did that accomplish?
Nothing.

I could've stayed
One minute more
and talked to you
You'll be gone soon
and I'll regret not staying
One minute more
I'll wish I had stalled
One minute more
Talked to you
just one minute more
you'll be gone soon
so just give me
one minute more

I looked in the mirror
and do you know what I saw?
a girl
She could use some work
But perhaps
I could call her pretty
You can tell in her eyes
that she cannot decide
whether she is too big or too skinny
But you know what?
Perhaps she could be pretty
She spends an hour a day
preparing her face so
perhaps she could be pretty
Maybe I should stop judging her
she's just trying to survive
she doesn't want to worry about
if perhaps she's pretty

The perfect family
Smile for the public
No one knows what's beneath the laughter and jokes
No one suspects that they are anything less than
The perfect family
Picture perfect house
Picture perfect appearance
Won’t someone look a little deeper
Look past the expensive things
Look at the expressions
Can’t you tell
That this isn’t a perfect family?

for the past few years I knew her
you could not see her skin
through the mask of her makeup
her skin painted smooth
every blemish concealed away
but suddenly this year
something is amiss
her skin; I see it clearly now
that her mask no longer exists
I see now for the first time
her skin is red and raw and rough
beautifully unique
what changed
to make her love her skin again?
And just how do I make myself feel the same?

a pool of murky blackish water
it was the ink bleeding off the page
the demons wading at the surface
smudging, running, tearing
she submerges her hand
and touched another
she spread the disease
like a wildfire
blazing, roaring, destroying
whatever she touches
leaves a murky blackish smudge
a stain that will never be erased
she hands off the wading demons
like a baton

I shed my name
my truth
my identity
I became someone new
just for you
to tear me down

I suppose in ways
you are like this splinter pierced through my thumb
sitting idle
just below the flesh
but blistering and red all the same
ready to cause pain at the slightest pressure

I hate needles
but I want tattoos
enough to cover my entire arm
with nothing but words
meaningful words
I want to be read like a book
The kind with a mediocre middle
rough beginning
and crisis-averted ending
The kind with characters
you can't help but fall in love with
That's the kind of book
I want tattooed onto my skin

every tear that has streamed down my face
was crafted by your violent touch
was forged with your hateful words
was built around your narcissistic ways
every tear I made was made for you

just another quick write
before I sign off for the night
today I laughed
I loved
I learned
So I feel like that made it a great day
dontcha think?

I look fat she says
I feel so big
I comfort her of course
but then I look at her
her wrists are bony
she's tinier then me
doesn't she realize
how big she makes me feel
when she's tinier then me?

I extend my hand
and try to hold my fingers still
Will them into steadiness
but yet they tremble
and shake nonetheless
Wavering ever so slightly
that if you never looked you'd never tell
so most never tell