In the sweet April air

The afternoon sun kisses our rosy cheeks

The playful breeze tickles my face

Carrying notes of nostalgia through the air

Curled in your arms

My head on your chest

I hear the lullaby of your beating heart

The constant rhythm of your breathing

You trace a mural on my arm

Undefined swirls and invisible patterns

As the cheerful reggae you like floats up to the lavender sta...

In a fancy restaurant bathroom, Ella let the cool water from the shiny faucet rush over her soft skin. It rinsed away tiny lavender scented bubbles, and Ella exhaled deeply. Her wavy hair fell in front of her makeup painted face as she leaned over the sink. She glanced up into the glass mirror. Flowers embellished the frame.

There was Ella, standing in a light blue gown that hugged her slight cu...

In their wheelchairs and sweaters

They hit the town every day

Stealing library books and stale bread

Never bothering to pay

They make fun of the locals

Despite their plentiful numbers

And the changes in society

Since when they were the youngers

They whisper and giggle,

Eyes bright through their glasses

Townspeople pretend to be annoyed

But they giggle too when an elder passes (by, not awa...

I’m lying in my warm cacoon

Encased in warm, heavy sleep

Dreams sailing on the foggy shadows of my mind

I am alone in the world,

Shielded from the world,

And somewhere else entirely.

I’m floating in the abis of my being

Suspended in deep meditation

While I heal myself, renew myself.

I drift through fragile and airy visions

While currents pull me into tightly woven nightmares.

Yet when the mor...

I

Was watching

The golden sunset.

The light pressed forward,

And pressed away from me.

And that moment I was sad.

I dreaded the darkness and its embrace

I could not hold the light to me

But as I watched it slip through my fingers

I remembered a wonderful, beautiful thing that turned me brave.

As the sun abandoned me and left me in my sorrow,

It rose over the horizon, offering comfort for another...

I don’t understand why Mom is crying

Did I do something bad?

No, I was good today.

Dad is acting weird though,

And Mom is crying!

Mom is crying.

I go to lick her face to tell her I love her, because that’s what I always do.

She leaves, and I have a terrible feeling she’s not coming back.

Dad is acting weird.

Dad is acting weird!

I smell her tears and his cologne, but also I smell danger and fe...

Can I back out of my misery?

Or is that like backing out of who I am?

It’s hard to separate pain from personality.

It’s hard not to see mysef as how I feel.

I can’t back out of my sorrow

When it’s who I am.

But maybe it’s only who I’ve become.

Maybe the real me is still at peace, kindhearted and curious.

Maybe she still laughs and smiles, and feels the sun on her face.

Maybe she’s still in me...

Who are we when no one is watching?

Are we the truest version of ourselves?

The raw version where light shines on our deepest darkness?

The pure version where our souls fill up our entire being, finally free of the chains we smother them in??

When we can forget about worldly pressures and simply just be??

Are we who we truly are only in the quiet moments?

Or is who I am a reflection of how I act ...

My grandmother always told me what a graceful girl I was

She told me when I danced

I was so delicate and poised

That I was as light as the wind in a meadow

Little did she know

That beneath my lace tutu

And the silk ribbons in my my hair

Beneath my gorgeous smile

And my polite nature

All my gracefulness faded away

It never dared to venture past my tiny fingertips

And attempt to dance

Alongs...

I could see her. I really could. Her eyes shined with wonder and affection, yet deep withen her gaze I saw chaos as well. Her hair fell in dark loose waves that almost seemed to float around her.

I fell for her the way you fall from the grasp of a wonderfull dream. All at once.

I swear she was real. I thought of her every day, my memory of our conversations always strongest in the morning.

S...