We are told from an early age
Never settle for anything less than the best
An idealistic proverb I was taught to live by
And I tried
Well behaved
Top grades
New friends, no boyfriends
Extra-curricular dance and sports
Perfect reports
Best university and the coveted job
I’m where I want to be

But there’s a look of pity
And your words blurt out
Have you thought about settling down?
Like my entire life has just been the trailer to my movie marriage
Like I hadn’t noticed the buzz of engagements and weddings
Like I’m incomplete and you think you’ve just given me the answer

Please stop
I’m not a box
So don’t try and tick me
I’m a rocket about to launch
So put on your glasses
For there’s going to be a lot of dust

Families separated
‘Zero tolerance’ repeated
Greed rewarded
Explosions escape unnoticed
Forests continue to vanish
Orangutans for Oreos  

Couple of degrees hotter this year
We go to the beach
Ripples of plastic soup hit our feet
Storm scatters sand to our faces
But they’re already buried
Nodding to ‘Nice for what’

What are we doing?
Earth keeps spinning
Time tick tick ticking

Ex-lover
We once swayed together
With no music
Now there’s another
Sweet love turned sour
Gangrenous odour
My intestines on fire
I try and extinguish with water
There’s only one survivor

I knew
His reputation
I’d been warned to stay away
Anyone but him
He cycled towards me
Blue eyes, blond hair and a smile that lit up my day
We were lost together
Yet I felt perfectly safe
I didn’t listen to the warnings
I fell
But he swept me up and I flew
Through luminous clouds and hurricanes
Experiencing highs and lows I never had before
Until that inevitable day when he left
And I landed in a puddle of all the tears shed
And I swam to my lifeguards