I don’t want to feel your absence in my bones.
I don’t like the way my veins stretch, outwards,
like they’re trying to make their way back to you.
Because it only serves to remind me how
even I don’t call my body “Home.”
I don’t want to feel your absence in my bones.

"if i had a son, he'd look like trayvon." barack hussein obama
there will never be justice on stolen land.
be concerned of the people,
and the system,
and the philosophy.
nights like these i fear:
having a son
having a black son
being black
being American
being a woman
being...
i fear raising a murderer or the murdered, of spending the rest of my life scared of a shadow, or becoming one.
victimized.
they only regard our kind when we shake the grounds in anger, when our voices boom off the walls and translate into violence. we are marching Martins.
i fear my son carrying his struggles on his shoulders, doning a black cloak like his black hood.
i can't watch him die again.
no black boy should feel like dirt when their pigment is golden.

You should be mine...
let me explore the darkest parts of you that forced that beautiful light in you
Immerse me in the special place in your heart you reserve for no one, just yet

My love is to heal, not damage
You're beautiful and my soul knows it
that's why she dances and twirls at the sound of your name

It would be foolish of me to not explore your love
I just want to share your light
...and kiss your scars
Be in your space
...and build something to call ours.

during summer, we avoided the ocean
because it reminded us how
small we really are, and instead of singing
lullabies to drift away in waves of sleep,
we sang all night long to stay awake
for fear that if we let ourselves go, we'd have nothing
left to rise for by morning

(i never closed my eyes, but i had one
hell of a dream)

There are some things that
I’ll never understand
like why I engraved “F A D E”
into my upper left forearm
and trace over the uneven markings
a little too fondly sometimes.
I didn’t mean for it to be funny,
and I didn’t mean for it
to actually mean something
But it did.
Because scars don’t always fade,
and I wanted the ones left on my heart to
and I wanted the ones left on my arms to
remind me —
that life will hurt you
but life will heal you
and when it does —
Let it.
Let it.
Let it.

You mean to tell me that was a year ago?
Seems like just yesterday...
If I could make time stand still
I would've lived that moment forever
Because it was the start
The best part
Being anxious and excited for what's to come next
When things are easy
Yes I could've lived last summer forever
Because this summer is the end of so many things
But everything seems so much easier when we're good, when you're around
I could've lived that first kiss forever
Had I known each one seems closer and closer to the end
Just a year ago...

Deep breaths
Steep crests
Jog down

Slip and fall
Shout and call
For anybody's help

You topple over me
Just let it be
Entangled in rocks, roots

In the middle of nowhere
Trying hard not to stare
But you're also watching me

At the bottom of a mountain
Found each other in our darkness
It's slowly leading back to normalcy

"Kick the darkness until it bleeds light"
Such violence could lead to such right
Wonder how our darkness found one another

Open wounds are now healing because of you
Fell down a wretched person came up anew
Save me from falling again or hiding undercover.

i can't break fear
when it's being
built into
me