First there was one crow, and he was beautiful. Then came the other crows.

The ocean was still. That’s how you knew that somewhere else in the world, all was in disarray.

Jameson walked across campus every morning passing the old dying willow. He’d strip the limbs and weave them into a crown fit for a sinner. He’d learned the skill as a kid from his mother, before she passed. A seagull lande...

I did what I had to

I wish there was a better way I knew

It’s kill or be killed

And my dreams need to be fulfilled

I’m sorry to those I hurt

To those I left laying in the dirt

But it’s survival of the fittest

My conscious ran to hide in the middest

I’ll never be the same

I’m feral now, I’ll never be tame

Nightmares will haunt me

It’s dead bodies on the ground that I see

I hope that they wi...

Staying alive

Is the only goal

Dead or survive

You know your role

Darting away from bears

Surviving harsh scares

Knowledge is key

When you try and face me

Skill can be an asset

As you move along

You may think you passed it

But you are all wrong

I will come again and again

Perhaps you may win

But even then

I will not go and rest in my den

I will always stay by your side

A friend or foe you mus...

I have never felt like

More of an animal than when

I was on a school bus full

Of boys, a shaken jar

Of bees.

I had forgotten this feeling

Until recently, when driving back

Over a bridge from my grandparent’s house,

I asked my partner to put on

Credence Clearwater Revival.

I was feeling a particular blend

Of freedom and righteousness,

The kind which spurs the horses

Of justice, the same one

Which...

So I hope you know you get one life

Under the subway another train passes by

Right here is a good place to close my eyes

Vivienne better come back with fries

I met her yesterday on the train

Vivienne told me to trust her today

All alone the two of us, staying alive

Looks like we need water too...

“In the end, I did it to myself.” Is surely everyone’s fear.

This isn’t a poem but I’ll write. On the way back from a 7pm class… dim lights from the bus illuminate my showered too long ago hair. It’s tied though, in a French braid. Enough to make it look like I tried something with it that morning. Which in truth, I did. I wove my fingers tirelessly until my arms ached. I did it so silently that ...

**tw for sh and suicide mention**

****

What is the point of going on?

I am no longer living, merely repeating the same motions day after day.

I'm tired of surviving.

It's not a physical exhaustion but a mental one, weighing me down until I no longer have the will to get out of bed.

I do it anyways, peeling myself up simply because I wish to avoid my mother's rage.

The same rage she passed do...

We all have instincts

Some better than others

But

We all have the instinct to survive

Whether that be on the brink of death

Going through depression

Hardships

Mental blocks through anything

We all have the instinct to survive

We bear it all on

We take it all on completely

We deal with it

And we survive

It’s what we do as humans

We endure

We suffer

But at the end of the day

No m...

Did they… finally give up on me?

Wait what… what is this feeling,

Loneliness? Emptiness?

No.

I told them to give up…

But maybe-

That was the only way I could ask for them to save me.

Please…

Why did you have to give up too?

Even though I was the one who asked you to…

Please…

It hurts-

It-

Hurts even more now…

Why am I me?

Who even am I?

Who was I ever?

What is it I’m doing?

I don’t ...

You’ve crawled through

the worst of it,

Now all that’s left is to live.

It shouldn’t be too hard, should it?

But three days without sleep,

You can’t remember who you are.

Your arms ache, wrung out,

Your mouth tastes of rust and blood.

You begged your mother to look at you,

To hold you—

But she’s disgusted.

You’re angry now, frightening,

And they don’t know where to turn.

You walk the same stretc...