I'm not going to ask you
to try to believe in something,
because I don't know what I believe myself.
I won't ask you to stop doing something because I don't know
what you're going through.
But what I will ask is for you to consider
that there are no right or wrong answers
to questions you have.
Because every life is different.
We may share similar experiences,
but we learn different lessons
from those experiences.
So, next time your views are challenged, instead of frustration, consider empathy

what a journey today was
it was as if everything i envisioned became a reality
sitting in the passenger seat, watching your ****** expressions as you spoke
reminiscent of the times our lips would interlock
reminiscent of when my gaze would be fixated on that smile of yours

it must be illegal, to even think of such a thought
because you were the one who hurt me most
yet today, speaking as if we were best friends felt so comfortable
it felt as if time never passed
speaking of our distant memories of when we were together
as if it was some form of amusement only we could understand

the fact i'm even writing about you feels illegal
but i can't help but think about how it felt looking in your eyes today
the same pair of eyes i once used to think belonged to the man i loved
i was freshly fifteen at the time, but my heart felt so attached to you
and the fact that i'm an ice cold stone now, who can't feel anything, surprises me more

or so i think

imagine a brick box lined with paint where
zebra and lip-red walls wobble as I
rest my forehead in a coiling of arms
on the stubborn palm of this plastic chair—
I feel you singing singing slow as I
build myself a night wide

where water rises up like bread;
and turn all students to fish and
turn all chatter to bubbles
that slide and collide and settle by the roof
and settle and settle
undying till the room
is a pomegranate cursed with fertility, and I
dare not gasp lest another bubble
should— press and press

imagine a blue sea bubbling like
sugar that melts and melts and
melts and melts
in the slowly-shrinking pan
I shut my ears
and build myself a silence and I
feel you right here
— a few rows behind—
our separate solitudes tangled up

a song faint as feathers, as fire
lit up; as the fish babble on—
your sea-creatures whirling: and
corrals’ tickling devours
that clothe me in Magic—

imagine peach-pink lips
that smile— dragonflies swishing by
imagine buzzes that they leave to sway
in the blushing airs, imagine
grasses fluttering their pompous lashes
imagine— oh, and

a paradox of suns that
pulls me in— prickling eyes
black and brown as cocoa in coffee and
soft as foam— yet suns, you see!
I dare not see, yet return
and return I stumbling do,

skin feasts in sweetness
of a warmth serene, and
the taste lingers all day long—
swear in stars are whispers of you
tossed to constellations' lively tales
and misty dreams shroud lazy mornings
where I and you and all
the unshed covered faces of ours
are free to sprout, where we
cling to limbs and limbs in
the deep rich beds of our soils

I lift my head as the teacher enters
and I know the water you
breathe in too
the churning viscosity presses in in

your swift silver thoughts
drowning in noise— and no one is listening
to the teacher—
my iron neck I twist to glance your way
fast as the flickering tail of a squirrel, yet
you clasp me still
— there—
the clack as breaths lock and hold

you sit all alone and, oh, do I—

I wish I could stand up and swim my
way to you
'hey, this seat’s empty, right?
mind if I sit?'
your orange 'yes' or maybe a leaf-like
nod, or a gust of shrug perhaps
then we talk and talk with
the fish all rest, and maybe we forget the smother
maybe we forget the fish

but I— a statue sunk centuries ago
waves kiss my valour and lure it away
star-shapes settling on my tongue
******* out words, and—

heart a squid blooming and clenching
I curse the idol I have built of myself
sit and sit I sessile a stone and
try not to drown, try not to drown
to boil to bleed or scream a soundless bubble alright
you, the fantastical, faraway land resting

a glimmer motionless where sea
licks the void, where children go
when there is nowhere to go,
where I think I will row one day one day one—
can you tell I have a crush on you?
I hope not

take my hand and bless me a metaphor
wholly mine— or— maybe I could spin you a blossom as your
lovely gown teases the night—

alas, but here begins the teacher

the greatest heist was pulled
when you stole my heart.

when you said my name
i lost all my senses,
which is when
you took my heart
and scribbled your name.

thankfully,
you gave back my heart,
but now all i think of is you
and to be honest
im not one bit mad.

when i close my eyes,
i see your inviting smile.

when i close my eyes,
i feel your warm embrace.

when i close my eyes,
i hear your joyous laugh.

when i close my eyes,
i smell your flowery scent.

when i close my eyes,
i taste your loving lips.

Take a trip into my heart,
What might you see?

Idk probably some blood,
Maybe some veins.

Potentially even homemade stitches
From all the tears in my heart.

If you’re lucky,
You might even hold it.

But beware,
The barbed wire may be sharp.

Why is it there?
You ask.

Well,
Let me tell you.

Some of us need protection,
But it usually just hurts me too.

You and me,
A cottage by the calm blue sea.
My hand in yours tangled upon these shores.
Our love rushes in like the rising tides,
Each time you touch me my pulse starts to rise.
Eloping under crimson skies,
the loving touch of your hands on my things.
I think to myself how’d I find this guy.
Your emerald eyes broke through my disguise,
I know that you’re not like other guys,
Our love like buttercream soft and sweet
Every moment with you is a treat,
When you’re around there's no need to be discrete.

addictions are hard to overcome
maybe that's why it is so hard to get over you
because to me, you were my drug