XXIV

I didn't know if I'd make it to twenty-four. I couldn't tell if my heart had that many beats left in it. Some mornings I wake and am still shocked that God has gifted me with another sunrise; for many days there was a void where there should have been gratitude, there was a strangled…

honest memory & dead stories

Dead stories no longer take up space in the arteries that lead to my heart. But recently I read that trauma comes back as a reaction, not a memory. Sometimes fear is very loud. It stomps its boots and grabs you by the shoulders. "No!" it instructs, "You can't do that!". Other days it is…

stand up, be humble

Do you want to know what I'm tired of? I am really tired of not having a place to sit. You know... in those crowded venues where warm breath the scent of too-sweet liquor spirals down your neck while you stand, awkward and cramped, and laugh and socialise with aching calves. Heat raining down so…

qs

How light did your head feel when you lifted it from the pillow this morning? Did you open the blinds? Draw back the curtains? Face the sunlight? How full of love is your heart? Is it bursting? Or hollow? Did you try to fill it back up? Are you still hurting over the same things?…

on the Male Gaze

Tiny veins running into the pupil, splintering and red. Brow furrowed, deep, sinking. The cologne wafts on the breeze, pale in comparison to the musky beer and tangy vodka that clings to the air. This one has a swagger even while he sits. That one speaks with a slur even when his mouth is closed.…