Sarah recently returned from her evening out with Rami for the first time. She met him on a dating app and and was impressed with the restaurant, his clothing and appearance. However, something was still nagging at her to dig a little deeper, some red flag that she caught but can’t seem to remember. So she did what she usually did when she went on a date and was still confused about her emotions. ...

The whispers in the wind ruffled the fur of the quiet dog sitting on the front porch of his late owner’s house. The sun had begin to come up behind the light grey winter clouds, but he kept his head low on his front paws, wondering what he was to do with his life now that his Sami was gone.

The house had been empty of humans the last couple of days. Someone passed by yesterday, maybe, to put some...

Shadows of past lives whisper through the dark,

Lingering in devastated stories of families

Crushed into dust.

A lone bicycle wanders through a deserted park

To witness a metal swing sway in the wind,

Echoing with rust.

Families that thought they could live forever

Ached with bottomless pits of despair

As they tried to navigatee a world severed

From maps of memories, and histories laid bare.

A...

The sharp green bristles of the oldest pine tree

Shudder to remove the ashes of its burning branches,

Branches where I used to hide from the summer heat

And from the calls of my cousins as we played hide and seek.

Clouds of grey smoke spread above the rich mountains of the South

Mountains where I used to watch pink sunrises from the safety of

Blankets on my bedroom balcony long after my parents f...

Singing in laughter

Shared silence in memories

Wherever they go

A bond that threads in their bones

Tying their fates together....

Supportive smiles made across hallways

Kindly advice when mistakes are made

Defending repeated misteps to keep her going

And yet when the chance arises

She spreads vines of discord and poison

Beneath my feet, silent and painful

Aiming simply to harm and destroy

Carefully structured relationships

Tied by thin threads of trust.

My brain could not comprehend

The imbalance of repaying kindness with ...

I wondered when it would happen for me

The endless array of clothes in closets

The sound of children’s laughter playing

A smile across a kitchen table

A key that opens the door to my own business

But it seems that these are things I am meant to hear about

Not experience

Witness but not enjoy

Each disappointment settles deeper in the growing darkness inside me

A darkness that thuds and echoes throu...

So often than not

I feel like a leaf balancing on a branch,

Tied to the mercurial weather. 

Bright green to soak in the morning summer sun

Then yellow and orange from the sharper brisk air 

Interrupted by hesitant dashes of light.

Soaked brown when a strong storm shakes me

As I cling to my crooked branch.

How I wished I was a root

Firmly situated beneath the solid earth

Absorbing what I needed fro...

Small sips of delightful bitter coffee

Sharpen my gaze on a summer morning

Stories filter through my mind

In an attempt to stretch my patience

Like a well-watered planted near a window

With leaves turning, a crispy brown.

Waiting is a test that I seem to fail at

Ungracefully.

A plan is in motion, they say.

It will happen at the right time, they say.

I exhale like a stuttering old AC vent

Staring ...

Forgotten sketch books piled in a jammed drawer

Yoda, her ragged beige cat with glassy green eyes

Crumbled notes of secrets passed along in classrooms

A battery-dead gameboy filled with laughter and frustration

The altered memories of a past life in a world away

Away from her scattered paintings in a sharp white desk

From the slow wink of her black cat’s yellow eyes

From the lively beginning of a ...