A hammock to catch

The slightest flip at a breeze

Wraps tight in comfort....

TW: c-section trauma

A shiny line crossed her lower abdomen, jagged and dark. The width varied, created by an uncertain scalpel. She dragged a finger along the uneven crease, her nail indenting further. The skin of her stomach seemed to push back, jarring her sliding finger, sticking every few millimeters. The scar felt fragile. Thin. As if it wouldn’t take much pressure to slice her open again. ...

She heard ‘I love you’ far more than the average human hears it in their lifetime. It was an occupational hazard, as a wedding coordinator. She sighed heavily as she set down a wooden container filled with bouncing ranunculus, layers of sweet peas, and varying heights of David Austin roses, all poking through variegated pittosporum and baby blue spiral eucalyptus. _What a waste_, she would think, ...

What if he does drugs

that end up ruining his life?

What if he never finds himself a husband

Or a loving wife?

What if he is timid and never follows

His wildest dreams?

What if he’s successful

But he’s horrid and he’s mean?

What if he decides

That he can only lie?

That no one will love him

Or they only say goodbye?

What if he regrets

All of his biggest choices?

Or he completes his aspirations

But...

Love is a lie that keeps us alive

Take a deep breath,

Come swim, take a dive.

Drown in the depths of a coital embrace

Cater to the waves

While you forget your own face.

Pretend it uplifts,

That your love truly inspires,

All the while managing a million small fires.

Paint on that smile,

Put on that mask,

Praying that no one,

someone,

anyone,

will ask....

I can’t stand the way you look at me 

So I sit my ass right down.

I meet your avaricious gaze

With a thought provoking frown.

I’ll hold my breath and a bears paw

While I twirl around my drink

Hoping, always, that just for once,

I didn’t have to think:

About the bar, about the scene,

My dress, my shoes, my hair.

All of it an alleged invitation,

For the predators to stare.

I cannot leave the buildin...

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” the girl crooned, rocking violently as she ran her hands through her scraggly hair. She was curled in the corner of the dark room, as filthy as the dirt floor. They had unchained her over twenty-four hours ago, but she didn’t move outside of the five foot radius she had become accustomed to. She continued to mumble and was restless in her fidgeting.

“Why, Aiden, why did you ...

We all have those stories

that our family tells.

Cute little anecdotes

that everyone

remembers in a similar way,

that somehow illustrate a quirk

or charming attribute

of the people in the story.

But sometimes

in the retelling,

we see something we didn’t see before.

A light bulb goes off.

A piece of information slides into place.

Suddenly

there’s an explanation.

“I’ll be nice to her ...

You don’t realize how much of yourself

is lost

until you start picking up the pieces again. One by one,

meandering in darkness,

squinting to make out what

it is you’re collecting,

what

it is you’re building back up.

Hansel and Gretel at least

planned ahead before being captured and eaten,

leaving themselves a convenient trail back home.

But you don’t plan for an abusive relationship,

no ...

There is no need to worry about where I will wander, for I will not walk this earth without you.

Be it up in the mountains where we are close to the sky, the stars and the moon within our grasp; surrounded by the open air, the frosty breath of altitude, amidst the grandeur of Aurora herself, but if I cannot turn to see your smile, nothing else is worth looking at.

If it is between seeing your ...