Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds

You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds

Sink your roots deep, probing the soil

Or keep them shallow and continue to toil

Reach for the heavens, with your petals sunward

Wilt and bend the stem, your face pointed downward

Your leaves stretched wide to receive the light

Or fold into yourself, your ferns curled tight

It’s in your power to blosso...

I stood on the dais facing the tribunal, their red cloaked faces pointed towards me, the long pale fingers all folded over their podiums. I was guilty. Of what, not even I know.

Yesterday I had been a normal young woman living in the pacific states. I went to my assigned job, ate my allotted meals, said my mandated prayers, and spent my recreation time knitting. Yet here I stood because as I walk...

The sun is shining through the window

Gently waking me from a deep dreamless slumber

Soft fur under my cheek, a hand stitched quilt covers me

For a moment I forget where I am but then my senses awaken and I realize I am home

My nose is assaulted with a foul smell

The diaper needs changing

The fur beneath my cheek is stuck to my face

It’s a stuffed puppy, covered in jif

The quilt sewed with love ...

When thinking about the hero, the savior, the ‘chosen one,’ one rarely pictures the tired mother. Her hair a mousy brown tied back in a bumpy pony tail. The ends of her hair sun bleached and crispy (having regulated trips to the salon every 12 months instead of the recommended three.) Her nose and forehead slightly pinker than the rest of her pale face - it’s easy to remember to sunscreen the chil...

A smile crosses the room

Hands touch

Stories exchanged

Laughter

Flirting

Stolen kisses

Secrets shared

Attachments deepen

Vows exchanged

Forever

Forever

Forever

In sickness

In health

For better

For worse

For worse

For worse

Short tempers

Angry words

Shame and guilt

And guilt

And guilt

Don’t give up

Talking

Talking

Talking

This is how bleeding leads to beauty

To forgiveness

To forgive

Forgive

...

As his finger trailed down my center I could feel the nicks and callouses catch on my tender skin. Rough in texture but gentle in touch. Each finger had nails cut short, though I’d watched him wash his hands before coming to me, I could still see the permanent dark lines from years of grime and hand work. The backs of his hands shown a a sun soaked caramel, his palms etched with contour lines of a...

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted at my phone. Why is it when one thing goes wrong, everything seems to follow?

This morning I woke up and I knew this was going to be a terrible day. Mostly because what woke me up was the sound of my roommates cat heaving and then the warm splat of barf I felt seap through my quilt.

Then I had burnt my toast, followed by my check engine light coming on. ...

Desire like a flame stoked to an inferno

Blazing, burning, unyielding

Out of control

Destruction

Scorched earth, the absence of life

Blackened, ashen, empty

From the cremated remains of desire

A touch of green, new growth

Old charred forests give way to fragile and new

Tender shoots, rebirth

Desire once consumed by fire, sprouting into compassion

Love

Loyalty

Partnership

The timber had to burn,...

The fog lay thick across the rusted steel, the headlights of my jeep barely penetrated the murky soup. My shadow rose against the gray bank of clouds looking colossal and grotesque. My laughter penetrated the eerie silence. Was I loosing my mind? Absolutely. I couldn’t help but become hysterical as I looked at the intimidating image my form cast because this shadow, this trick of light, somehow ha...