untitled #3

How can I be too much and not enough all at once?
Two sides of the same moldy coin,
Both echoing sentiments of a self that feels worthless. 

These stormy contradictions I create inside myself are drowning me,
Pinning me down by my wrists, my neck. 
I try to come up for air but I’m still gasping, choking on the poisonous atmosphere I’ve painted over my head. 

It’s exhausting, dragging myself through this endless slog
Every step weighed down by the crumbling concrete block in my chest. 
The hills are mountains with unreachable peaks, 
The valleys, craters carved deep into the earth, exposing its molten core. 

It’s almost easier to stay in the eye of the hurricane when the spray of calm waves feels like daggers on my skin. 

7/20/20

Soft

I want to be soft
Like the girls who perpetually glow in pink light

Smiling with confidently crooked pouts
Their gently parted lips a warm invitation

I want to be sure
Like the girls who share their bodies with the world 

Smooth curves swaying like supple tree boughs
Willing to embrace the breeze

7/17/20

untitled #2

I find myself wishing for nightmares
Hoping the dark will justify the hurt
The pain 

If I dive down
Deep down
Into the abyss 
What answers will I find?

Visions of old familiar rooms made strange
Twisted and turning
Grotesque reimaginations of past lives 
Remind me of the impenetrable tar still lining my lungs

When my mind turns upside down, will I understand?
Will the ache flip and dissipate?

Maybe there isn’t an answer
Maybe I should rest
Let the nightmares come
Welcome them with warm, open arms

Who is the darkness for, anyway?

7/13/20

untitled #1

I have been carrying pain
That doesn’t belong to me
For far too long

And I have to let it go

I’ll let it fall to the ground with a resounding thud
Feel its weight
Pressing down on my shoulders
As it launches itself into the sky
Before it comes back down to earth
Finally ready to rest

This pain is not mine
It weaves within and without me
Tangled and twisting
But it is not of me
It is not for me

Who do I carry this for?
Why do I carry it?
The tears and cries of those who came before me
Are not mine to shed 

I have been carrying this pain
For far too long

And now

I will let it go.

6/25/20

Burn

I’m wondering when I’ll stop feeling like a candle

blackened wick shriveled, stretched towards the sky
sputtering, struggling to hold a flame

Neil said it’s better to burn out than it is to fade away,
But what if the flames are so hot
you can’t help but disappear?

I’m running out of matches. 

10/23/19