A boy and a girl- that’s all we truly were. What else could we be? We were 14. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when I knew, but probably when I was 14 and you agreed with everything I said.

But 14?

Maybe I thought I was destined to have you. It sounds immature, but how did we get sat together two years in a row?

Maybe it was my best friend mentioning how much you stared at me. She wouldn’t have l...

A star-spangled cowgirl The true Western icon With ruddy hair and a tanned complexion

But nothing to the prince A man of culture, Sheltered culture

Paths a-crossing ‘Twas dawn of the third morn That the prince were in the West

Of a tumbleweed daylight And sweet sappy freedom, A contrast to the austerity of royalty

But when spoken upon One and the other Were realized such a similarity

Lif...

Happiness never felt forced until you held it in front of my face Hovering by my mouth, thinking you were tempting me Hopeful that my self-deprecation would be to the benefit of your pride

Holding my ego in the palm of your hand Hunger didn’t become starvation until I saw the light that could’ve been more Heaven forbid you let me see what you see in me

Hunting for my goodness, you overlooked m...

Toxicity is only a problem When you make it one, Like a rose you know had thorns, but you bend down to smell it anyways Face too close And the sweetness becomes sickly Pulling away too fast...

She gripped the ancient relic tightly, feeling the power running through it with a pulsating false joy that emulated a heavy dose of illegal narcotics.

She, Isabella Turner, took a long drag at her cigarette and sighed out a puff of smoke. A mourning dove was somewhere nearby; its consistent cooing was unsettlingly rhythmic and low.

Isabella turned the object over in her hands, gazing at the d...

The days end up going soft around the corners A little blurry Or maybe that’s my vision going bad Because I spend too much time Staring at the sun

Though the sun is needed To grow, survive, breathe The shadows are trying to encroach But the sun is always there

It rises with a blur in the mornings now And I can’t really tell, but the moon seems reluctant And the sun seems hesitant And the ...

The days we thought were young Were really just all too short And the nights we thought were high Were just a dream we spun and wove more skillfully than our love

You held me more gently than the others And everything about it was softly sorrowful Your breath against my neck, like a feather Your pain was slow and careful, nothing about it you dared spread to me

In the delicate gloom of your cig...

She’s not who she says she is She’s made of lust and foul words on the outside But they cut deeper than she can feel Deep down, they dig in like a knife Twisting inside so your guts may become infected with dirt But she doesn’t feel it

She thinks she’s pure Repent, repent, repent She doesn’t see She’s taking it for granted And the knife won’t budge Because it’s in too deep now Lust and swearing...

My childhood dreams were something like a nightmare I was stuck in the endless loop of nothingness And meaningless Taking care of the people That were supposed to be taking care of me Beer bottles and sweaty must Sticky fingers and microwaved macaroni and cheese Growing up before I had a chance to live

So my dreams were feverish I desired singularity and peace at heart But knew it would only c...

The next book that comes in has a cover. Most books do. There’s a girl on the front. Her hair is long and shiny, red.

I scan it back into circulation. Beep.

I run a hand over my peach-fuzzy head, shorn and heavily tattooed underneath.

I think of my step father, dragging me across the asphalt of our driveway by my hair.

The book after that has a star on the cover. A black background, a shin...