laughing for real
like when you can't breathe
and your eyes tear up
and the harder your friend laughs
the harder you laugh
and you keep being a fool
because it doesn't matter
and for once
you don't really care all that much
what anyone thinks

beauty isn't the way shes dressed
but the way she stood for you even when a mess
beauty isn't a woman for their looks
beauty is the way she looks at you in that memorized look
appalled she is when you say beautiful
but not on the outside is she most beautiful
but on the inside with that memorized look

“Maybe we did love each other, maybe our timing was wrong again, maybe the stars weren’t aligned right, maybe love wasn’t in our favor. Maybe the doubt that resides inside of me is the answer to the ache behind my heart.”

“consent is a basic human right.”

the privilege of consent has been taken advantage of for far too long.
unconsciousness does not equal consent.
being under the influence does not equal consent.
coerced consent does not equal consent.

consent is only one thing: explicit permission. “yes.”

just because they don’t say no, does not mean they said yes.
do not use their nervousness against them.

I want to take refuge in your smile
to bury myself in your eyes
to reside in your heart
to drown in your laugh
to hide in your arms
to lose myself in your beauty
and to clothe myself in your love

Fear will always be there.
Following, tied to your ankles

In the brightest days one can see it so clearly,
In the darkest nights it becomes the hard air to breathe

Fear knocks on your door
The more locks you get, the louder it knocks

Fear sounds like birds chirping on a Saturday morning
The harder you try to sleep, the closer they seem

Only once one takes a breath of air,
Embraces the dark,
Opens the door,
And sings with the birds.

When they give in to their fears,
They will become free from them.