Dandelions are in full bloom
- food for Bees and
- food for souls;
irresistible yellow.

i wish i was a
better daughter
for you.
i wish i knew
what it would do
to you.
i wish i wasn’t
so afraid
and i wish i never
stayed
in that orphanage
where i barely left
my crib like a
cage.

i wish i grew up
before today
because now it is
much
too late.

of his cigarette
a menthol smoke silhouette
circling his wet crimson lips
with just the tip between
his stained crooked teeth
he ***** me hard
till I'm charred
pulling me out
with his ***** yellow nail fingers
I linger there as he speaks
growing smaller on the exhale
I wail cause I remember when
I was white and clean
but now
bent and twisted
a stump in a metal tray
where all his other smokes lay
among the ashes
in a blanket of powdery gray
I smolder
old and colder
my fire snuffed
on his last puff

A golden flower glimmers on the lush forest floor
But its petals ripped out, crushed, its beauty no more
A tangle of thorny vines grows around my chest
Tightening and suffocating, allowing no rest
A slithering snake pounces on a tiny mouse, the mouse loudly shouts
The snake quickly squeezes and the squeals of terror die out
The ocean waves appear calming, rhythmic in their beating
But stuck in their swell, tossed around, my lungs begin bleeding

You got what you need
Not knowing the cost is me
But gave my soul peace

you think you can't
but I feel you can.
I know what it's like
to be human,
it's surprising how
similar each of us
really is
at the core.

I hear you in between
life and death,
hear the words you
won't use around the
ones you will.
I'm not crazy,
I'm what I want to
be within,
when your mind is
more than your own
God blesses us
with his love.