ivory soap still lingers in the air
a trace of you in a public place,
a brief moment of remembering
finding you where you had never been
a stranger masked with your scent
your tissue paper still exists
under my fingertips, translucent
we read the bible, your hand in mine,
a child comforti...
you and I had ended up together
that I hadn't chosen to erase you
your name wasn't a hole in my stomach
resentment wasn't in my vocabulary
a delightfully wrong summer elongated
into more than memories confused with dreams
suppose approval was now my concern
sleepless nights w...
we babbled incessantly
preoccupied with mundane tasks
that no longer interested us
caught in a whirlwind of
docile expressions, pacing
from cubicle after cubicle
how lovely it was to be numb.
we woke up suddenly
with a deep fear in our stomachs
muscles fighting bones
we were longin...
My flesh learned to die
Cradled in his hands.
You see, I was once told
That in order to grow
We must first self-destruct
Beyond the point of recognition.
I was the phoenix
And he was the flame.
Blinded by the ashes,
I relished the fire....
I can remember the first time I fell in love. I was eight.
There is something about feeling the weight of a pencil in your hand and a blank sheet of paper in front of you that is mesmerizing. I could stare at that blank sheet of paper for hours and be amused, because in my mind, it wasn't bl...
We had laid our picnic blanket out
Along the grass, like a treasure map
Or perhaps it was a smothering coat of fabric
Choking the blades that struggled to sprout
We held onto the past,
Which was the only thing we really knew
The air of sweet nostalgia
And strawberry jam spread thickly
On wh...
This torrential rain
Has no cleansing effect tonight
It soaks the earth in all its
Acidic glory
Eating maliciously
At the bare shoulders and
Legs
Of screaming beings below....
Two tans hands interlocked, resting on the solid ground. Golden stalks of grass, taller than the sky, reaching up and extending into froever, prodding the fairytale sky like millions of needles piercing glass balloons. Two pairs of legs, sun kissed, stretched out on the ground. A pair of Nikes an...
Maybe we all want to burn off across the horizon, into space, perhaps, to take off into some unknown territory and meet ourselves out there. Perhaps we’re all stars burning out, peaking at a complete and utter brilliance, and then collapsing in ourselves when faced with total destruction. We all...
The cardboard box was soggy and floppy; the bottom threatened to give way and spill its contents onto the sandy gravel driveway. The smell of wet leaves and damp sand mixed with the taste of salt hung thickly in the air, and the severe sound of seagulls echoed in the vast sky. The wooden dock was ...
Abrasive white, sharp and sterile, mixed with shards of muted yellow. Voices cry out jubilantly, and then halt, as if daring to hope. Then, finally, the smallest voice of all, the color of gold and turquoise, royal purple and the brightest tangerine: a baby's cry.
It was a love affair orig...
Velveteen seats. Velveteen Rabbit. Rabbit hole. Digging a hole. Hiding in a hole. Dirt from a hole. Hiding, dirty, in a hole. A dirty boy hiding underneath velveteen seats.
That’s what he was, he thought. A dirty boy.
A lone pianist on stage. Lone star. The spotlight, a single star, a sing...
It began purely as a pizza romance, biting into thick, greasy crust and tasting the sweet, garlic-infused sauce. It was centered on lemon ice waters and red-and-white-checked tablecloths. Canned, fake Italian music was our soundtrack. I would go home at night, smelling of restaurant hand soap and pi...
The coffee maker burbled. An apple fritter sat on a napkin next to her left hand, at the ten o’clock position. British pop music played loudly from the neighboring apartment. Taxis honked and shrieked at one another on the New York street, six floors down. Eva stared at the eggs on her plate. ...
The soil is warm
The air is cold
Cutting on skin
Bitter on the tongue
Sour words
Dangling, unsaid things not even
Mouthwash can remove
Sickly sweet dirt fills my nostrils
The swollen scent cultivates
Memories in my mind
That I do not want to remember.
Hands plunging into the earth
Solid ...
Rib cages protect hollow
insides from imploding
Uplift your caving figure
Lift slumped shoulders
Deflect the epitome
of defection
Private stories spelled
out through paper skin
and bird-like bones
Dirty secrets
Boring holes in
wormy planks of wood
Limp hair in curtains
Rib cages can o...
He (pushes me to the edge) plays with
words in a sing-song joke
believes in an unknown God
and bleeds glitter
I('m in his sweatshirt, curled in a modified fetal position) cry
with happiness and
shriek with joy
that boy's something
beautiful, I sing,
and you (shedding silver)
st...
Freckled lemonade
sits on your doorstep
the summer heat curdles
its pink bubbles
the sweet taste turns
overly acidic
your pink-striped
bendy straw droops
idyllic teeth-baring smiles
perhaps look more frightening
than endearing
and Kodaks blow
away only to settle
in pitchers of
frec...
Her head hangs
down like a lopsided doll
we stand, mollified
the tire swing is empty
and the dust beats leave us dead
nonsense running through our heads
like sick bugs in California
leaving out the rest
for a better movement
to stop and actually try out best
we all stop to gawk
real life ...
she’s a rainbow child
bruises decorate her like
war paint
cranberry streaks across the cheeks
pillow feathers tucked in her hair
drunk on life and delirious
stumbling on lines and reciting the
alphabet backwards
retching up emptiness
and smiling blandly
she’s a rainbow child
bruises d...
Your paperwork is losing me,
slowly, but surely.
My cubicle is now a sense of
claustrophobia
And each sheet that categorizes
something that I believed
words could never describe
slices my fingertips
a little deeper.
Bent paperclips scar our eyes
and rubber bands attempt
to hold two peop...
she was a bare bulb
who dreamed to turn herself to
a glass chandelier.
he was a christmas
bulb who yearned to turn himself
to a red stop light.
if only the sick
shadows would stop distracting
them from each other....
She was not beautiful. She was not pretty by his standards; she was barely even attractive. Her appearance bordered on stunning and bizarre, giving the boy a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. The feeling was foreign and swollen, black and bruised. It was as if she had punched his gut, leav...
He reduced her to
Laugh at the ugly and fake
Wild insanity.
She reduced him to
Nothing but eating toothpaste
And mourning the lost.
Both left the other
With sour mint tastes in the
mouth. Choke it down....
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