i know that smile
the one hiding tears
sadness beneath the surface
anger swirls
i know how you walk around
with the weight of a thousand words
on your shoulders, behind your lips
because of the wounds —
betrayal, abuse, racism, rape
confusion, grief, oppression
it aches
deep in your bones.

meanwhile, society tells us to be perfect
not to feel
and produce more
tangled in the arms of technology
trying to be okay, to be great, to be something
but so many of us
are walking around wounded
the pain is palpable
when we slow down
to feel.
it floods us
but only for a moment.
scabs…

listening deeper
where quiet rains
from the sky
i can taste silence
feed it to me like sapphires
i feel you
next to me
your breath glazed onto my skin like honey
my eyes fill with daises
wonder pulses through my whole body
from the petal sweetness of your gaze.

i need this.
who are you?

i am sent here to love you
like never before
i am here to love you
when you don’t feel strong enough to love yourself
i am here to remind you that you aren’t broken beyond repair
i am here to say —
you
are
enough…

Time shatters

I gently bite your lip
And look at you —
There is only you
And me
And this moment.
We embrace
Not in the fantasy of candlelight
But in the truth of daybreak, at naked midnight
On tough, shitty afternoons
And clear sapphire skies
In the rain that life pours
Because sometimes it just hurts
To be human.
A fragile kaleidoscope
Of pain and joy and loss and beauty.

It’s so tender, isn’t it, my love?
I like what you said
The other day —
We don’t have to cry alone anymore.
We don’t have to hold burdens
In tightly locked palms
Or carry…

a little more of this
a little dash of that
no thank you
i am not a dish
that needs seasoning.

healing is not
becoming all these things
or adjusting your volume.

it’s a melody that lives deep within
it whispers and growls—
get back, get back
to the core of you.

peel it away
the things that never defined you
the expectations that never encapsulated you
the things that just didn’t feel right
sweep it away.

get back, get back
to the core of you
the volcanic truth
the oceans of emotions
sea sprays into tears
as you shiver
from the sheer tenderness of it…

lilacs sweeten the air
the soft scent of nostalgia
trickles through you
like tiny streams of tears.
birdsongs so loud
you don’t even need music
the earth sings
and you are quiet.

suddenly all that weighed on your shoulders
lifts
for a single second
weightlessness
and muddy toes
more here
more okay
more you.

the breeze caresses your face
with her wispy arms
and you just feel grateful
held
in this moment
a snapshot in time.

nature speaks
through goosebumps
and deep sighs
she is just there.
she is just there.

let us breathe her
appreciate her
and keep her medicine…

thoughts race —
am i good enough
did i do that right
what do they think
of me
do they
like me
did i fuck that up
a run-on sentence
a thousand questions
looping through my mind
equals exhaustion
distilled in five words —
i forget my own power.

“trust,” say my legs and hips
they are so far from my brain
they are steeped in something
closer to the earth
grounded in the beauty
of life
they know juicy bites of pleasure
and an ease that seems
so out of reach at times.

“trust yourself,” they say
easier said than…

bigger.
more me
yes, a wider container
so my hips can spill stars
and my voice can be heard
beyond these hilltops
stronger
and with a tenderness
embossed in drops of dew
with tiny tears.

power
can look a thousand different ways
the textures are limitless —
raw laughter braided into the mountainside
silence
feeling
caring
speaking roaring truths
crystal clear boundaries
wind dancing through your hair
making wild love like a lioness
oh hell yes.

but it all comes back to this —

power
bubbles up
by embracing ourselves
a single strand woven through it all
all the flavors, every damn piece
multifacted…

open up
tap the bottle down
and see what feelings
pour out

so human
beneath the amor
fresh petals of softness unearthed
between my ribs
old layers peel off in big, jagged strips
like 1920’s wallpaper
too yellowed, too stale, too not me

and what i see
beneath it all
beneath forced smiles and awkward moments
and all the snapshots of things i thought i should be —
a kaleidoscope of colors
swirling like paint
a sunset drips down my back
and the only thing to do
is this:

set it down.

the expectations
the fears
the things that block our instincts
the…