I thought you left me.
Probably thinking I was
too much of a hassle.
You say you left a note,
didn’t see it.

Don’t look at me like that.
Like I’m not me,
like I’m a stranger
wearing my own skin.

You say we’ve had this conversation
three times today.
Well, I guess I just don’t remember.
Doesn’t mean i’m not trying to.

You say I left the stove on.
I say I didn’t.
We both believe we’re right,
but only one of us is losing their mind.

Sometimes I call you by the wrong name—
or ask where Mom is,
and you go quiet,
because we buried her last fall—
please forgive me..

This cruel disease
doesn’t just erase memories.
It erodes trust,
ruins families,
breaks everything…

Please don’t.

Let me enjoy
this summer,
even if it’s for
the last time…

Let me taste
the sweet sun,
and it’s warmth
on my skin,
Let me get lost in
the golden haze of
endless summer days
that I once let
slip through my fingers.

Don’t let them see me again
as the teenager
that won’t come out,
because they forgot how to play.

I won’t let
the weight of your
mental exhaustion
pull me under
the current
again.

I want this summer-
in all its glory
full of sun drenched days,
with family near,
and laughter ringing free.

I’ve already lost too many summers,
wasted years choking
on your heavy lies—
the ones that told me
misery was the only way to be.

So please, Depression-
just, don’t.

Oh a girl,
my age too,
she wants to be friends…

But maybe
she’s laughing,
behind some screen,
showing her friends
how stupid I sound,
how quickly
she was able
to deceive.

Or maybe—
she’s not even
a she.
Maybe it’s
a man.
Old.
Watching.
Preying.
behind a mask
of stolen pictures
and sweet words.

Or maybe,
I’m talking
to a ghost
a shadow of what’s
never existed
not here
or there
maybe not anywhere,
a figment of AI’s imagination.

The world lies serene from up here,
bright blinding lights
seem dim,
people like insects, crawling
insects like dust, clinging
and scuttling to their dark corners.
A place above all
where I can forget.
As I watch my feet swing
over the edge,
I'm not scared nor sad,
not thrilled either,
Just am.

they say don’t judge a book by its cover
but sometimes
you start reading
and the words just
won’t resonate with you
they won't
make you think
or feel

but remember
you don’t have to
force yourself
to finish
a bad book

I sit next to this girl
who plays the bass
like it owes her something,
head hung low
with chipped black fingernails
and untamed curls
that unfurl around her face.

I hear iron maiden playing
through her headphones
as she taps her fingers
to the beat.
She never seems to smile,
though she has the most beautiful
kohl rimmed brown eyes.

But back home,
she smiles at her little brother
and spins him around.
She takes song requests
on little sheets of paper
from sticky hands,
and she’ll play them all
just for him.

She writes him stories of
heroes and hope,
then tucks him in tight,
and disappears to her room
where she’ll write all night,
the things
she’ll never
say out loud.

Have you ever felt a love so strong
that your chest physically hurts,
because you long for it,
with the entirety of your being.

A love so intense
it scares you,
breaks you like glass,
bring you to the edge of destruction,

But you don't fall over the edge,
and you won’t,
because they’ve got you,
tight in their grasp
forevermore.