Sometimes we hand ourselves

Over to violence

As if in punishment

For crimes we did not commit.

And they will tell us

When someone shows you

Who they are behind their mask,

You should believe them the first time.

But we never do.

So will I believe you the second

Third or fourth time you let your mask slip?

How long does it take

To realize that you're falling

For the same lies

You told your...

You say you can't hear the music anymore

As your shadow dances on the floor

The face you hide from the world

Beautiful mask for a beautiful girl

You've shed your tears to grieve your loss,

Molded into a box you never chose,

The roles assigned – the agreed upon cost.

You cry until there's nothing left,

You shrink yourself to become so small

That you can fit upon the shelf

Made for you by someon...

Memory breathes old grief

Out into the open,

That once hid

In the dark corners

Of your life,

In wait

For the perfect time to come back out

And remind you

Of those old wounds

That have not healed,

Only gone unnoticed

And unattended

For so long

That you forgot they were there.

But they haven’t forgotten you....

We are all of the same spirit,

Woven Into the tapestry of life.

All a tiny speck of a puzzle piece

That creates a whole

Living, breathing, continuous organism.

We all come from the same sin

That calls out to us from the dark,

Hidden in shadow.

We all pursue the same material things

Thinking they will somehow make us whole,

But we’re trying to fill a space that

Was never truly empty.

And we e...

He has a cute little button nose with a parade of freckles dancing across its bridge and spilling over each side onto full, rosy cheeks. His hair, the color of a fiery orange sun setting over deep blue oceans. His smile, generous and authentic causing deep dimples to form at its borders, framing a rippled, crinkled little nose. His skin, a light parchment still smooth and brand new in its innoce...

Once I was wild and free,

Imaginative and curious

Wanting to explore every corner

Of the universe and uncover

It’s secrets.

Maybe a little loud

And boisterous,

But assured that my ideas

And dreams were within reach.

Then I was shamed

Into quieting myself down.

Fear of the unknown was instilled.

And suddenly, exploring the world

Seemed frightening and impossible.

Just a silly joke I had pl...

The tall man walked onto the covered the sidewalk from the rain, a large black umbrella obscured his face in which he never lowered. He turned and began to walk steadily towards the outskirts of downtown that led to the old train tracks. He kept his umbrella over his head although he was now safely out of the wind gushing downpour. Most everyone had huddled under the awnings of the shopfronts wh...

I could hear his sighs

From every corner of every room,

As if simply not getting what he wanted

Every hour of every day

Simply would not do.

Deep breaths take up far more space

Than silence

And I cannot reconcile all of the violence

Echoing from each and every wall.

Maybe this was my downfall,

Meeting you and thinking

I’d discovered my freedom

When I had only walked into

Another cage....

In the midst of twilight, golden light shining down from a thousand stars big as grapefruits, gilding the leaves on millions of trees for miles. Memories came flooding back to her of a time before the war, before the darkness knew her name. Before she ever looked down into its depths and saw her own reflection. Many of those memories had been lost, she thought, but this one came raging back in a...