#sunburn
hidden by shadow I watch in awe of your light
you are the sun, and you shine so brightly.
I hide behind a solid foundation,
in places you could get lost in.
hiding so you wont see my darkness.
my body is charred and my wings scorched.
we used to be so close, I loved to see you.
Where did the time go?
The time where I was important to you.
The time where you would dip behind hills
just so your light wouldn't linger on me too long.
never wanting to let your light more than kiss my skin
and tan my complexion with your familiar smiles.
It is true, the sun brings great happiness and health.
But it also burns.
Apr 13
Apr 13, 2026 at 10:44 PM UTC
My skin is red and cracked,
Fusion burns away flesh.
My cells being attacked,
But my skin grows back fast.
Oh, when will the sun learn
That it cannot stop me?
No matter how I burn,
The ashes set me free-
Like an old forest torched,
The burning trees cackle
Reborn under the scorched
Ground, past when flames crackle.
So bear your arms, bring me strife,
All of me’s been burned away:
I’ve burned nearly all my life,
So yeah, what is one more day?
Mar 23
Mar 23, 2026 at 9:20 AM UTC
I wish to lift the vellum of my body's book
Sun's reddened flay worked against my bindings
Tingles down the spine to a library-ed browse
Lifted sheets whisper to feathered touch
Urged to tear through the cliffhangers
Thumbing between leaves rough drafts
As breaths of air coarses the new pages
Setting a fine mothwing dusting
Nov 19, 2025
Nov 19, 2025 at 10:05 PM UTC
getting sunburnt
may be painful.
but its so worth it.
making those memories
of being on the beach
with friends
or maybe your family.
or being at a pool party
to cool off
after that forty degree day.
i would exchange laughs for sunburn
any day.
because memories,
they stay.
Sep 28, 2025
Sep 28, 2025 at 2:39 AM UTC
im starting to listen
to more upbeat,
happy,
summery songs.
i can't describe what they sound like
but they just feel
like summer
in every way.
it's hard to explain.
but im starting to feel that
summer heat come through.
it's making me want
to go outside
and feel the air.
get sunburnt even.
i wouldn't care.
im just happy that summer breeze is back.
Sep 28, 2025
Sep 28, 2025 at 7:37 AM UTC
Sleepless summer nights,
salty golden curls,
green swim shorts,
charming, star-speckled smiles.
Soft-spoken words,
guileless promises,
chilled beach air,
lapping waves,
crickets chirping,
cans cracking,
laughter echoing through darkness—
bonfires illuminating faces.
Lost in the labyrinth of bare love,
mistakes made,
heartbreak— inevitable.
Sunburnt hearts.
Jul 22, 2025
Jul 22, 2025 at 5:36 AM UTC
incessant
annoying
the buzz of cicadas in the edge of july
incessant, annoying
buzz of sunlight against my skin
prickles my cells
bleaching my hair
the world does not sway
there is no breeze, no gentle winds
just the shadows of leaves
and circle lights on the grass
dipping into the heat
dipping into the light
into the buzz of summer's noise
i hope it doesn't drive me crazy
i hope i don't sunburn.
Jul 26, 2022
Jul 26, 2022 at 12:55 AM UTC
You were the sun
Lately, all you do is
burn
my skin.
Jan 16, 2021
Jan 16, 2021 at 3:31 PM UTC
the moon chased me through cities
growing more as days go by
I could not escape its gaze
through foggy curtained windows
I always thought I was made for
the night but as it turned out
the moon burns in me more
than the sun ever could
Feb 25, 2021
Feb 25, 2021 at 3:02 AM UTC
I forgot what it felt like
To be burned
The familiar sting of sensitive skin brushed against fabric
All too real for me.
I wonder if she, too, felt pain like this.
Days spent basking in the sun on summer days,
While cancer scrawled upon her skin like a signature.
Sometimes I think she knew what she was doing,
Laying there,
Letting herself be killed,
Slowly,
But surely.
I hope she sees me,
Walking with friends.
Hundreds of us,
Marching for racial equality.
Would she have scoffed at the idea?
Or scolded me for not protecting my delicate shield?
Say,
“Your heart may armor your conviction,
But it does nothing for your ivory skin”?
But I know,
The lace on my wedding dress may hurt now,
But I will heal.
I cannot say the same for my brothers and sisters of color.
I will not let them lay there,
And be killed.
Jun 9, 2020
Jun 9, 2020 at 9:30 AM UTC
I have been suffering from sunburns.
Sunburns that I call "missing you" syndrome.
I have been feeling the scorching heat of the Sun
and the burning sensation on my skin.
It's not the kind of warmth that I miss.
I could not reach the Sun.
He is far. He is vibrant, fiery and hot.
I could not gaze at him on his blazing peak.
I looked down in tears.
I miss him, I am trying to say it,
but all I can do is to swallow my words and get burned with my own longing.
Sunburn, sometimes it's on my skin.
Most of the time, it's the Sun that I am missing. ☀️
May 23, 2019
May 23, 2019 at 8:31 AM UTC
My skin peels
and in the places reborn
I apply products that charge me for beauty and self-esteem.
This isn't really what I need.
My skin peels
the salicylic acid burns my flesh,
but it whispers, “I am not the pains
of my father,”
and I believe it.
I stand in the mirror
and lock eyes to skin.
You are not the pains of your father.
You are not the pains of your father.
My eyes refocus, and I realize
I've been talking to myself again.
My skin peels,
and in the places reborn
what's underneath is revealed:
Raw flesh and parental issues.
When will my showers clean me instead?
Apr 30, 2019
Apr 30, 2019 at 10:10 PM UTC
every time i see you, it's like looking into the sun
- it hurts
Mar 29, 2019
Mar 29, 2019 at 9:01 PM UTC
scratchy and damp do not harmonize underfoot
and fear and the ocean should not coexist
but like this elevator missing the thirteenth button, my comfort sinks with tantalizing, lethargic anxiety.
the boards are a smokeless fire underfoot,
grit rolling between me and chipped brown paint,
as i beg for cold, thirst for salt, but do not run to the provocative, promising body beyond the dunes.
and my clothes are underfoot,
and this lemonade pink towel whose corner grabs at the sand,
and the hot dry fades into something that is sturdy and packed down by bounds like mine.
carbon slices at my underfoot,
the sharp home of a long-dead thing,
as my heel strikes the iron, water-pat shore, and the shock of it stuns my bones.
shock! cold underfoot
lace between my toes, smoking from wood and run
and then my face is in the sea, because who needs air when life is the sun trapping itself in the pink of my shoulder blades?
Jan 15, 2019
Jan 15, 2019 at 2:12 PM UTC
The Sun
beats upon my
shoulders
a drunk
Father stinging me;
Your face
red and peeling,
grins past
your straw.
A hot day
spent dunked
in the ice
water;
Green and
slow moving with
algae.
Jan 12, 2018
Jan 12, 2018 at 11:36 PM UTC
the edges of my fingertips
swell up as they lack their magic
exposure to red disdain
covering delicate skin with danger
the walls protecting a heart
slowly die in their place
and accept the consistent rush
of an old air conditioner doing its best
to persuade heat to leave
so my empty body can feel at home
in my empty room
away from the indulgence
of July's freedom
where destiny forms between lips
and summer dresses paint the day
with vibrancy
where the borders of dawn and dusk
slip terror into the comfort
once safe enough to spend a lifetime with
so perfect it should only belong
in a Photoshop picture
where you simply take the flaws
and eradicate them
if I could take these burns
which burn brightest outside
and quietly kiss them away
like all the other things which can't
come back
leaving loose strands in dark subconscious
waiting for their moment to shine
Jul 31, 2016
Jul 31, 2016 at 5:10 PM UTC
The light dapples in
Throwing odd shadows
On the plastic surrounding me.
Like a strange sunset put there
To taunt my eyes
Each droplet of water
Is another arrow
Shooting new spikes of pain
Through my body
Hundreds
Thousands
Millions of drops
Per second
Splash onto my skin.
1,000
2,000
I could have avoided the pain
I could have stopped this
Not going to the beach
Not going on that walk
But oh, I would not take it back.
Not one second.
Every
Happy
Minute was another
Happy
Memory
To add to my collection
And even
As I lay here
Rivulets of water
Washing down my red skin
I am making another.
You tease me
Like some cruel trickster
Happiness
Dripping down my back
Turned to cruel
Twisted
Pain
Running up my spine like a knife.
Oh, blissful pain
Would that I could feel
You to your full relevance
Instead, you trip over me
Leaving pain in your wake.
Like a torture machine.
This feels so bad
But so good.
Once the water is freed
From the contraption shooting it
Like a pistol in my heart
Onto my skin
It rebels against its maker
And trickles delightfully across me, sending delightful shivers
Into me
Only to betray me again.
Oh, sweet treasure
Would that your painful side were invisible
So
I
Could sleep
Once
Again.
Jun 23, 2015
Jun 23, 2015 at 11:19 PM UTC
Her skin was red,
from the sun,
she burned,
from the inside out,
she cried,
on through the night,
till morning,
she peeled.
May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015 at 4:47 PM UTC
acceptance is something we all wish was contagious,
but true acceptance comes from a heart that is filled with patience.
fingers tremble as dreams race through your bloodstream.
trying on different clothes and attitudes makes your body ache and turn,
outside is an identity that isn't yours which feels as bad if not worse than a peeling sunburn.
"don't." you tell yourself. "don't give in to the personality you've thrown in the highest corner upon the highest shelf.
it's gone.
(j.a.r.)
Apr 23, 2015
Apr 23, 2015 at 6:35 PM UTC
Staring at sunburns from sunsets-- we watched the waves crash around us.
Bagels and wine; don't even dare to judge us.
With bittersweet goodbyes we washed the sand from our toes and walked home.
Staring at sunburns from sunsets-- we watched the birds fly above us gracefully.
Pizza and ****** beer; don't act like you're better than us.
With bittersweet goodbyes, we danced home with no shoes in the city lights.
Staring at sunburns from sunsets-- we talked about our deepest fears.
Orange juice and tacos; don't act like you know us.
With bittersweet goodbyes we let the wind sing us one last song before we went home to the place we hated the most.
Apr 13, 2015
Apr 13, 2015 at 4:46 PM UTC
The aloe to the sunburn
The blanket to the cold
The bandage on the cut
And the laughter to a joke
The you to me
You just make me better
Aug 16, 2014
Aug 16, 2014 at 1:47 AM UTC
The Sun, He calls to me
And I go to Him with a subtle hesitation
Knowing I’ve been hurt before
(I knew that I’d been hurt before)
But still I run
And fall down before Him
And He kisses my cold white face
And I melt under His hot red heat
And He says He will make me beautiful
And I believe Him
(and I believed Him)
And the longer I stay, the harder it is to leave
He begs of me a few more minutes
And then a few more
And more
And He tells me He loves me
And I love Him back
(and I loved Him back)
And then the time comes when we both must depart
And I wave goodbye
And He tells me to come back soon
And I tell Him I will if He does
But after He is gone
It takes me some time to realize
That I am not the same
(and I am not the same)
Because He has stained me with His crimson mark
Burned me with His good intentions
Blinded by His beauty I allowed my surface to be altered
And the sting on my flesh is a familiar one
Because this is not the first time
This happens to me year after year
And I never learn
Because He looked so innocent
So enticing
So intoxicating
And He called to me
And I could not refuse
(and I cannot refuse)
But that was the last time
(and this is the last time)
Jul 11, 2014
Jul 11, 2014 at 11:46 AM UTC
sun
has never meant
much to her
she's always found solace
in the ash of the clouds
like the ash
between her teeth
and she surveys the wreckage
of what once mattered
and doesn't anymore
because she stopped caring
and this
has come
from the hell
we endure
for just
one more kiss
these clouds
and the sunburn that can still come from between them
and she's always wanted to see the zoo in winter
and he promised she would
and he never took her
and now he's gone
into the ash
leaving nothing
but a whisper
behind to tell her
"remember."
Jun 30, 2014
Jun 30, 2014 at 1:31 AM UTC