What even is pretty? Who decides?
You have to be skinny enough
No marks,no bumps,a flawless face.
You have to be social but not too loud cos then you'll be called annoying
But not too quiet cos then you'll just be boring
Show too much skin, you’re judged.
Wear baggy clothes, you’re insecure.
Too much makeup, you'll be labeled as fake,
too little and they'll say you’re as plain as cake.
You have to be fun, but not too wild.
Kind, but not a pushover.
You have to have nice thighs but too thin and you're a stick but not too thick cos then you're just big.
Wear perfume and your trying too hard
But No scent and your bland
Dress to impress but don't be flashy
Be yourself but change to belong.
People pick at themselves day after day
Change their faces,twist their shape,
Stretch their bodies just to fit in .
what makes someone pretty in others' eyes?
Is it skin? Is it size ?
Is it the number on that scale we idolize?
What even is pretty?
It changes every day.

The difference between a cosmopolitan,
Of which I am,
And a "globalist,"
Of which I am not,
Is in one's compassion & patience -
In one's respect & understanding.

A cosmo is a citizen of the world,
A denizen of the planet.

This is not,
As some may mistakenly think,
Some sovereign citizen nonsense.

This is respect for the law - universal,
Those enshrined & even those not.

This is recognition of another's country & governance -
Of their sovereignty & rights, in like identity.

A "globalist" believes, wrongly, that there should be
Only one "kind" of a world.
A planet under one "supreme doctrine,

Usually "manifesting" in supremacy & inferiority
And the "erasure" of distinction.
That one's "life" is superior

Because of another's "inferior" "lifestyle."
In "globalism," there is no compassion
And neither is there patience.
There is no respect for distinctions in/of life
And no understanding for different lifestyles.

Observe, and share your perspective -
But be respectful.

Judge, and share your verdict -
But be understanding.

In both the formations of them
And in their subsequent deliveries.

Otherwise, expect not to be seen or heard from.

To have your last name
makes me ill.
You make me so angry
I want to ****!

I hate your voice
and the thought of you.
You were never there
when I needed you!

You're inconsiderate,
you're a lazy slob.
How could you do
what you did to mom?

It's like you don't
even accept me.
What kind of father
can you be?

You're stupid for thinking
that I'd forgive
what you did to me...to mom... to grandma.
How do you live?

Do you regret?
I hardly doubt.
I bet that I'm
the last thing you think about.

Don't lie to me.
I know I'm right.
I don't want you
in my sight!

Stay where you are;
don't bother.
You're lousy - I hate you
You're not my father!!

But that's okay,
you see,
because I don't need
your love!

You've forgotten
me before.
Go ahead...do it
some more!

LOSER! ****! - I hate you
you're not my father,
and guess what,
I'm no longer
your daughter!

And then
I said,
"All my poetry
is not
fictional"
putting all
these short
little bursts
of inspiration
in a different
perspective

I’m too much.
I’ve heard it in every sigh,
seen it in every glance that lingers just a second too long—
the weight of me suffocating the space between us.

I ask for too much,
but it never feels like it.
I don’t ask for the world,
just the bare minimum:
A little attention. A little care.
A little proof that I matter.

But somehow, even that’s too heavy.
Too big. Too loud.

I’ve learned to bite my tongue,
to shrink myself down to something easier to swallow.
Soft-spoken. Simple. Small.
An echo of who I was,
because maybe then,
I’ll be easier to love.

Spoiler alert: I’m not.

I’m always too needy,
too messy,
too complicated.
The kind of person you put up with,
but never choose.
The kind of person you forget as soon as the door closes.

I feel it every time I reach out,
fingers trembling in the dark,
hoping someone will hold on—
only to find the emptiness waiting for me again.

I want to scream,
“I don’t want much!”
Just to feel seen.
Just to not be forgotten.
Just to be the kind of person who matters to someone—
even for a little while.

But I’ve learned how this goes.
I ask,
and I become too much.
I stay quiet,
and I become invisible.

Caught somewhere between being too heavy to carry
and too easy to leave behind.

So, I sit with the weight of it.
The loneliness.
The ache that tells me I’ve always been replaceable.
A body that takes up space
but never quite fits anywhere.

And the worst part?
I still keep hoping.
Still keep waiting for someone to see me
and not run.

Even though I know they will.

They always do.

What is it like?
What is it like to smell flowers in the Spring?
What is it like to feel safe and secure?
That feeling must feel like Heaven
Sweet, warm, Heaven.

What is it like to trust someone with your life;
To wakeup to someone you're loving life with?
To get one hundred percent of love from someone?
What is it like to be loved?
Properly.

cracks me up
this erroneous error message,
looks at me and states authoritatively
nuh-uh, buddy, “it ain’t you you babe,
it ain’t you we looking for babe”

makes me crazy crying
copiously betw snorting fits of
eloquent derision

why oh why

is it daily savings time prematurely
(immaturely) aging me,
be it advancing decrepitude
or just the AI’s sullen attitude?

be it a secret messaging that my
mother’s slow descent into
senility, loss of speech is now me-
visible to the all seeing eyes on
a dollar bill, & or the iPhone genie?

this erroneous messaging appears
with an irregularity regular, just
enough to make me think that

this
       is
           not
                  accidental

come to nyC,
come me to see,
need an independent  
judgement  summary
please
before the winter pale overcomes my
poetic resistance and they park me
in the backyard, where I can sit yet,
studying for multiple hours
the river-fed bay on its way
to the vastness of the Atlantic
Ocean, where the water will combine.
all cells of each of our selected
those chosen body’s of water,
bodies now interring,
while populating
intermingling
taking stingling diatoms from
of each, they will kiss, greet, each other,
with the clarity of recognition that our
poetry has already bonded us in ways that are irrefutable, been coming long time
geological formations new and old,
still forces unstoppable foreseeing
every, every ever