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118 · Jun 2021
Don’t change
Chameleon Jun 2021
Maybe I’m comfortable in the hole,
it’s familiar so it’s safe.
I prefer things that don’t change.
Like I enjoy knowing what the roads
will be like in the winter,
and having the same best friend since high school.
I keep the same bad habits because
it helped me feel better once.
I like chaos because it reminds me
of home.
118 · Jul 2018
My home
Chameleon Jul 2018
It's hard to work when you are crying.
My eyes were blurry with tears.
Miss Ohio by Miranda Lambert played through my headphones and I couldn't stop myself.
I don't want to leave my home.
Not yet.
He messaged me and said,
I'm sorry to hear about all of that. You'll figure it out though, one day at a time.
Reading those words made me have to stop and sit down on the floor.
Sobbing as quietly as I could.
It kind of feels like I lost, or I failed.
Like my worst nightmare came true.
I feel like I should be able to save myself, fix this on my own.
But, I do need help.
I know moving could be great, but it's not easy to say good bye to the life I worked so hard for.
Everything has happened in that apartment.
I became an adult there,
my mom called and woke me up to the news that my nephew was being born there.
A part of me will always live in that house.
I wanted to leave when I was ready.
118 · Jul 2018
Instagram
Chameleon Jul 2018
I want to delete every picture from my Instagram because I hate myself.
118 · Dec 2020
Bar pizza
Chameleon Dec 2020
I watched the bubbles in my Miller lite
rise to the top, and listened to the conversations around me.
Country music blaring from the speakers.
I miss your bar stool being next to mine.
I miss my drinking buddy, my best friend.
I came here this afternoon because I realized I can’t find anyone who’s even close to you,
so I’ll go do the things we used to to do together, alone.
Being alone is better than feeling alone with people.
118 · Aug 2018
Pizza party
Chameleon Aug 2018
Heat lightening flickers furiously in the night sky as I walk up the hill to the pizza place.
I pass by the bar and can hear music blaring from inside.
A man who is clearly drunk is outside on his cellphone.
It sounds like he's talking to a girl.
I walk inside the brightly lit store and walk up to the counter.
A guy has his back to me as he's taking an order on the phone.
Finally after what feels like forever he gets my pizza, I pay, and leave.
I begin walking back down the dark sidewalk away from the lights and the people.
I know that I could step inside that bar and meet someone.
Not even a guy like that, just someone to talk to.
But I don't want to.
Tonight I will eat pizza in bed alone and watch Girls.
117 · Mar 14
Love
Chameleon Mar 14
All I know is
I love him,
and he loves me
and now that it’s
been said
I feel free.
117 · Mar 2023
Gone
Chameleon Mar 2023
I am still standing here on the side of the road,
bags in hand.
Like you opened the door and shoved me out,
said you’d come back later.
The sun is setting though,
and it’s getting cold.
I’m beginning to think you aren’t
coming back.
Chameleon Jun 2021
I don’t know why I don’t feel anything.
I did for about two days and then that
ooey gooey butterfly flew away.
I tried listening to that country song,
the one about the blue eyed problem,
the one that had me holding back tears
as he sang along in the car.
How can I be so hot and cold.
There’s something wrong with me.
Am I really that damaged
or will I just love the person that damaged me
forever?
115 · Mar 2023
Come home
Chameleon Mar 2023
Missing you feels like there is a hole
in the atmosphere.
I have tried to ignore it,
go about my day and let it go
but it always hits me the hardest
when I realize you’re never
coming home.
115 · Dec 2019
Not hungry
Chameleon Dec 2019
I couldn’t eat for
2 months.
My appetite just disappeared.
I lost weight really fast.
My belt became too big.
Usually food is my comfort,
I have spent many many nights
getting to the bottom of a bag
or having just one more slice.
So when the idea of food became
nauseating and my stomach just stopped
growling, it was weird.
I have never experienced heart break
like that.
It really is as bad as all the sappy poems say.
When you’re broken, even your favorite food
can’t comfort you.
115 · Sep 2019
Stuffed dog
Chameleon Sep 2019
I remember going to
Toys R Us on my sixth birthday
and picking out a stuffed black dog
which became my favorite.
I named it Toto.
She has soaked up so many tears,
and really put up with a lot.

And even now, as a 24 year old woman
I sob into her fur and picture myself at 6
and can’t believe I’ve let her down.
I can’t believe how badly this man
who used to love me has hurt me.
It’s not fair.

When does it get better? Because I’ve never
seen the light for very long.
115 · Jun 2018
For her
Chameleon Jun 2018
I want to promise myself that by this time next year I will be happy.
I will be no matter what it takes.
I want to promise her I will put her first.
I want her to believe me that I will make the right choice, and the right changes and I'll figure this out.
I want her to look in the mirror and know that I made the future for her.
I want her to never feel bad for finding happiness.
I've done this once, I can do it again.
I can do it.
I will do it.
114 · Jan 2024
Ramen
Chameleon Jan 2024
Days feel like months,
so breaking down crying in the
kitchen while I make ramen
noodles
was not what I thought I’d
be doing.
I haven’t cried in over 24 hours.
I felt great yesterday.
I even took a few selfies
and posted them.
But now I am sick in bed,
literally and I can’t stop
thinking about him.
I don’t want to do this forever.
Like somewhere in the back of my head
I think there’s a finish line,
and we’ll come back together.
But there’s not this time.
This is it.
My best friend will become
someone else’s best friend and
he won’t think of me anymore.
114 · Dec 2023
Untitled
Chameleon Dec 2023
After a week of us being broken up
today was the first day that
we didn’t speak at all.
I want to text him,
say I miss him.
I want him to say it back.
But I haven’t forgotten
that he gave up on me.
We could have been together,
He just doesn’t want me.
It will never not sting
like I’ve been bitten by a wasp
when I think of him next
to someone else.
It will never not ****
a part of me that he didn’t choose me.
I know that someone who really
loves me would never give up,
would never leave me.
I know this but I wanted him to
be that someone.
114 · Jun 2021
It hurts
Chameleon Jun 2021
I hate this feeling.
It’s the same one I would get when I was
coming down from a ******* binge.
A desperate, painful need for something.
For more.
Eyes wide open, heart racing,
my thoughts flying by too fast to
even remember any of them.
I can’t sleep.
And I’m not high.
I’m just empty.
114 · Jul 2018
Stuck
Chameleon Jul 2018
I know why I'm unhappy.
Because I'm stuck.
Because of choices I made and it's too late to go back now.
I can't leave my job because I need the money and benefits.
I can't leave my apartment because I can't afford anything else.
I can't get out of my relationship because it's been almost 5 years and I take care of him.
I can't enjoy the money I have now because I need it to buy oil this winter to heat my house.
So I can't be happy because of choices I've made.
I don't see a way out.
I wish I could just accept that this is my life, but, I don't want it.
113 · May 26
Close
Chameleon May 26
They were spread out
in front of me
as I tried counting them
in twos.
I had already googled
what might happen,
but the results varied.
I swiped a few or more
off the counter
and took them quickly;

and then he called.

The rest of them are now
back in the bottle.
113 · Jul 2019
Library
Chameleon Jul 2019
He took me with him to do
a quick errand at his College’s campus,
and dropped me off in the library.
A wide, open two story room with
a couple fairly dramatic staircases
and rows and rows of books.
I slowly walked through them,
enjoying that old paper smell,
and scanning for titles I recognized.
My heart would ache when I found
a book I wanted to read,
so I stored the names in my phone.
I hoped I blended in with all the quiet students
who were hunched over their laptops
with a notebook open in front of them.
I found a cozy chair and read the book I
brought with me while I waited for him
to get done.
Feeling more then happy to spend an afternoon
in a library.
113 · Feb 2019
Ox
Chameleon Feb 2019
Ox
I hate myself because I destroy my own happiness.
I can feel it in the pit of my stomach, this unwelcome rage that is like boiling water bubbling over the edge of a ***.
I’ve always found it fitting that my zodiac sign is the Taurus because sometimes I can be so stubborn, I won’t budge.
I can gleefully sit and watch everything burn around me but then instantly regret it as I am left in the ashes wondering
what happened?!


Nobody brings me down better than I do.
112 · Jul 2018
Eight
Chameleon Jul 2018
The sun is setting.
Barely any cars are going by this Sunday evening.
I'm sitting at the dining room table feeling drunk and high and who knows.
Maybe I'll take a walk, or go lay down.
Right now I'm singing in an empty apartment.
For the first time I noticed the echo.
I need food, I need to sleep, maybe see someone.
Tomorrow I'll wake up and regret calling off and I'll remember what happened, still in belief.
112 · Sep 2019
Cry baby
Chameleon Sep 2019
I’m crying in my car because
my body keeps doing things I can’t control,
because my back hurts,
because I just wanna go home
and hug all of my stuffed animals.

And I’m crying because I miss him
all the time.
112 · May 2020
It’s there
Chameleon May 2020
I never expected to feel you with me when you left.
I didn’t think texting and talking on the phone would keep us close.
But when I get a text, I feel happy.
When the X-files theme song begins to play I can’t cut it off quick enough and answer.
It’s still there.
Even though I can’t see you,
I still love you.







I do actually pray I will see you again.
112 · Oct 2019
Fired
Chameleon Oct 2019
I’m spending my night drinking
hot chocolate and rewatching
Gilmore Girls: Seasons.
I’ve sat at the kitchen table to smoke
some **** while the house is dark
and quiet.
Everyone else is asleep because
they all have jobs to go to when
they wake up.
I am unemployed.
112 · Jun 2021
Forever
Chameleon Jun 2021
I’m going to get to see him again.
It’s not for certain.. but I’m certain.
I have been dreaming about the moment he
is standing in front of me for
over a year.
How will I react?
I wonder if I’ll cry, or feel nervous
or will it be like going home.
The moment I get to touch him,
and prove that he is still real
is a moment I would wait for forever.
111 · Jul 2018
New clothes
Chameleon Jul 2018
Today I woke up feeling sad, and I had a good cry about it for a minute and knew that today was the day to get a little retail therapy.
I went in search of something that would make me feel hot.
I found a blue jumpsuit with a floral pattern and when I tried it on it accentuated all of my curves while making me look thin, and honestly the ***** has never looked better.
I bought it along with a cute shirt and a cheap little tank top.
When I got home I took a picture in the jumpsuit and posted it to Instagram.
Dan texted me and said, ***.
I replied, what?
He sent the photo I posted and said, where have you been hiding all my life? ***.
The goal to find something to make me feel hot totally worked.
Sometimes all you need are new clothes to brighten your mood.
111 · May 2021
Unhappy
Chameleon May 2021
I have hated my life for as long as I’ve been alive.
I’ve done things just because I felt like I had to.
Get this job, no wait, this job.
Go to college it’s the path to happiness.
Oh wait, turns out it’s only making me more miserable.
Makes a lot of money,
makes barely any.
Falls in love, gets absolutely torn apart.
Builds a wall.
I don’t really have anything keeping me here except me.
I could sell everything I own and buy a small RV.
Use all the money I have to just drive away and stop when I run out.
Get a quick part time job just to make some more and then disappear again.
I hate staying in one place, doing the same things.
I’ve never had an adventure.
I saw a girl standing through the sun roof in her boyfriend’s car, singing and cheering because she’s done with college and I thought,
I’ve never been that happy. Ever.
But I deserve to be.
110 · Jan 2024
I wish I never met you
Chameleon Jan 2024
If I could go back
5 years ago to
23 year old me I would tell her
to walk away.
To not speak to him.
No matter how badly I needed to.
I would miss out on all of the
love,
all of the love I gave to him
and all of the love he gave to me.

But it would be worth it.
Worth it to miss the pain he
caused,
worth it to never know what it
was like to love him.
It would be worth it to know
who I would have became
if he never entered my life
and flipped it upside down.
I might be married,
have a kid or two.

And most of all I wouldn’t have
this giant hole in my heart
that grew larger in size
each time he left me.
I wouldn’t be 29 years old,
single and completely
terrified of what’s out there.
Who is out there.

If I could go back I would
choose to have never met him.
110 · Aug 2019
From my notebook
Chameleon Aug 2019
Sometimes the sun peaks through
on a rainy day.
It creates a beautiful shadow of the blinds
on the opposite wall.

And sometimes all you can do
is make chili spaghetti for the third
time this week and go to happy hour
on a Wednesday.
109 · Apr 2019
Dec 2018
Chameleon Apr 2019
I really want to go home and play in the snow with my high on acid boyfriend.
109 · Aug 2024
Perfume
Chameleon Aug 2024
Sometimes
I put on a few
drops of the perfume he
bought me for
Valentine’s Day.
The one where he took me
to an Italian place
because he knows spaghetti
is my comfort food.
We were genuinely happy
that day.

Even though maybe
just two weeks before
he slapped me during
an argument,
and two weeks later he would
break up with me.

And I would try to break
the bottle of perfume
on the bathroom floor
and swear I’d never
smell it again.
But sometimes,
I still put it on.
109 · Dec 2023
The last time
Chameleon Dec 2023
I felt my voice catch in
my throat when he approached
the window.
I swallowed the tears and waited
for him to get inside.
As I slowly drove he asked me
how I’ve been,
I said good, mhm.
The silence was so loud
and he tried to cover it up by
telling me about how he’s been
busy fixing up his apartment.
He directed me to the storage unit
which wasn’t far.
I watched him sift through a few
boxes to find the pans and utensils,
carrying anything to the car
that’s mine.
When that was it he walked up
to me and we just looked at
each other.
I reached out first
and he hugged me close,
wrapping his coat around me.
That’s when I felt the tears coming back
I tried to stop them
but ever since we split all
I have wanted is his arms around me.
He said,
you know I love you right.
I nodded.
On the drive back he made small talk
and tried to make me smile,
and then we were back.
He told me he’s sorry again
and that it isn’t me.
He said to be good and try to have fun.
I hugged him again
and then he was gone.
It’s the last day of the year
and it’s the last day I’ll see him.
Our story is over.
108 · Jul 2024
All mine
Chameleon Jul 2024
I have a nice man.

He tells me he misses me
every day,
and apologizes when he
gets too busy at work
to respond.
He randomly tells me
I’m pretty and
kisses me on the forehead.
He almost knocks me off
the bed at night
because he wants to be
close to me
and he comforts me when
I’m sad or scared.
He lets me know how
he feels
and what he’s doing
and checks to make sure
I know he really likes me.
Being with him is like
being wrapped in a warm
blanket in a cozy bed.
He is a safe, soft place to land
and he’s all mine.
108 · Jul 2018
Cry
Chameleon Jul 2018
Cry
I feel like I need a good, hard cry.
Which is odd that I have this feeling of intense loneliness and sadness because I thought I was feeling fine today.
But I listened to a podcast about someone's dog dying and how they did everything to save it.
And I was tearing up the whole time, thinking about the inevitable day my dog will die and the love I feel for her.
But now I feel like crying for another reason, I just don't know what that is.
108 · May 2021
To him
Chameleon May 2021
I do miss the quiet smile you wore
when you looked at me.
I know you see me in a way that I can’t.
108 · May 2021
Little moments
Chameleon May 2021
I think what you end up missing
the most when you don’t have a partner
are all the lost little moments that
make life special.
That feeling in the middle of the night
when you wake from a bad dream,
or anxiety won’t let you sleep
so you reach for your person.
Snuggle into their arms and you can
feel your whole body relax.
Safety.
107 · Dec 2018
Quiet conversations
Chameleon Dec 2018
It was almost six in the morning,
and I lay in bed with my snoring dog at my feet.
I was trying to sleep after being awake for 24 hours but the acid was amplifying the rain outside and creating weird images behind my eyelids.
He knew I hadn't been to sleep since he came over the morning before so he let me have the bed to myself.
But I wished he was next to me, and I wondered if he had really just asked me to be his girlfriend.
So I pulled off the covers and shuffled out to the living room.
"What's up?" He asked sleepily, and sat up a bit off the couch.
I sat down on the edge of the cushion and said,
So I am your girlfriend right?
"Yes. Yeah, I was thinking that we kind of left that conversation open."
I smiled and said, okay good.
We talked for abit and then I kissed him and said I was going to try to sleep.
It worked this time and I dozed off thinking about how weird it is that
I have a boyfriend.
107 · Mar 2020
Before and after
Chameleon Mar 2020
My energy likes being around yours.
Two souls bouncing around the atmosphere, who somehow found the other and it felt warm and safe.
And now I can’t remember what it was like before we met.
107 · Apr 2019
Happy
Chameleon Apr 2019
He asked if I’m happy,
and I thought how could I not be
as long as he’s beside me.
107 · Jan 2019
Morning
Chameleon Jan 2019
This morning before the sun came up the two of us fell asleep on the couch after work, cuddled very close together with the dog at our feet.
A bag of ****, a bowl, a half empty bottle of water and a candle on the coffee table.
A show I can’t remember played softly on the Tv.
At some point he woke up and said, come on as he picked me up and carried me to bed, our pup trailing behind him.
106 · Feb 2019
Ghost
Chameleon Feb 2019
My mental health is deteriorating and nobody cares!
I ask for help but I’m met with blank stares.
“You’re over dramatic, all women are the same.”
It’s no wonder good girls end up going insane.
I feel like a ghost lost in my apartment,
trying to find someone to share my heart with.
Can someone for once just care about me?
Why am I so easy to leave.
106 · May 2019
Monday drive
Chameleon May 2019
It was one of those perfect weather May days,
so we went for a drive.
No real destination, no music or talking just taking in that feeling of freedom only sunshine, and spring can give.
106 · Feb 2019
Mean
Chameleon Feb 2019
My brain is a sad place to be.
I can be so mean to me.
Having one of those weeks where I feel like I can’t do anything right and I annoy everyone. I know it’s not true but depression is a ****.
106 · Aug 2020
Plants That Still Die
Chameleon Aug 2020
I don’t talk about it much,
because I can’t figure out how to write
about it.
It still stings like a thousand bees,
takes my breath away like a kick to the gut.
I can feel my brain get lost,
“wait, what’d you say, sorry.”

I am an alien among humans,
like I’m acting in a movie it doesn’t feel like I’m sitting there.
If I’m not busy busy busy I am a fly
at a bar drinking as if it could be my last;
and then I’m sick.

I need a doctor to remove this scar tissue around my heart.
It didn’t heal right, or maybe it’s not done yet.
What do I do in the meantime?
Emotional trauma never goes away
106 · Nov 2019
Sick
Chameleon Nov 2019
I have that sick to my stomach feeling.
Sure wish it would go away.
I’m worried about what he’s doing,
who he’s with
as if I have any right to even wonder.
I hate that I still love him.
Something I haven’t even wanted to admit
to myself.
106 · Jun 2020
Spinning
Chameleon Jun 2020
I already know I won’t get to ask.
At least not until later tonight,
because he won’t text me back until about 1 maybe.
It’s 11:14 right now.
By the time I hear from him I’ll be so relieved
just to get a response that I’ll chicken out.
I also don’t want to make him mad with that question as soon as he gets off work.
But my mind is spinning and sinking and I’m freaking out and I started drinking 30 minutes ago because I don’t know what else to do.
I’m prepared for him to say no.
But god I hope he says yes.
106 · May 4
Rain or shine
Chameleon May 4
I don’t want to be
a rain cloud,
I want to be the sunshine.
105 · Oct 2024
Three
Chameleon Oct 2024
I think he was
going to say it.
Or wants to
but won’t for some reason.
He’s been saying
everything except
those 3 words.
But I’m in no rush,
I want him to
really mean it,
and me too.
105 · Dec 2023
Blanket
Chameleon Dec 2023
I sit very still in bed
staring at the duvet.
Not really thinking,
just staring.
It’s like I am a piece of furniture
in this quiet house.
Time drips by as families
everywhere are celebrating.
I am grieving.
105 · May 2019
Careful
Chameleon May 2019
I’ve spent so much time sitting on the floor, slowly picking through the debris to piece myself back together. I was almost whole again when you showed up and helped find the last few shards of glass to rebuild the mirror I look at myself in. I changed. I’m older, stronger. But even you said I still look broken and I see it too. So please be careful.
105 · Feb 2019
The same
Chameleon Feb 2019
I want to be that girl who moved at the beginning of September and created a blank slate. Who started over.
Even though she wasn’t as strong as I thought, she felt stronger then I am now.

I don’t cry on the floor of my living room anymore but I lay on my side wishing he would turn and put his arms around me and it feels the same.
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