Samira

I'm going to rock the show.

Cancer

Cancer I wrote down her diagnosis So I could learn it Control it Manipulate it somehow As though deleting it from the page Would release her I wrote down her diagnosis So I could memorize it So I could feel close to her Protect her Fix her I wrote down her diagnosis But the words […]

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Sameness on lock

We think our traumas Are the things That leave marks Big and violent We think our worlds Were fine The way they were Small and exclusive We think rebuilding Means fixing what was Going back to the what we know Familiar and comfortable What we don’t stop to think To realize Is our worlds The […]

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Unruly, messy love

Don’t get it twisted I yell it, because I mean it Your job is not to change To mold To morph Your job is to love Love because of Love in spite of Love even though You don’t understand You can’t stand A future different from the one You were promised By your mind’s eye […]

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Step On a Crack

Line after line in the sidewalk, That’s all I could see. Other kids would jump around, leap past me, bent over in my periphery Grabbing at roly polies. But not me, So careful was I, watching the lines. Watching the cracks in the pavement. Step on a crack break your mother’s back! All it took was to […]

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Late

How late is too late I wonder As the hours creep away My idle mind won’t play I cannot breathe when I think Of the gut punch of time passing It goes too fast I fail to make it last It is late Too late To be thinking of such things As the meaning of […]

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Face cream

My mom mixed me this fancy lotion She took all her face creams Her favorite ones Mixed them all up In a fancy jar And gave them to me That was two years ago I use it sparingly So it lasts forever Like I hope she lasts forever Because I cannot bear to think of […]

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Love is all that remains

Reaching out for voices Who can listen to me scream Wails of fears unfinished Outcomes as mysteries remain With the sterile beep Of the answering machine I steel my voice And force a smile to my lips To hide away the pain “I called to say I love you” Because love is all that remains

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