Poems

We were once friends, you and I

The kind that told each other everything

But as life changed and time went by

You grew farther and farther away

You came to our favorite spots less and less

You stopped answering my calls

And if I had to give it a guess

You used me all along

Then came the day you finally asked

The thing you knew I'd never do

Your true intentions were unmasked

And I didn't even recognize you

I look back and think on all the times

You said you loved me and I knew

That it should really be a crime

That I ever even trusted you

You used and abused me

Behind the mask of ‘friend’

I never knew you could feel so free

From a cage you never knew you were in

So this goes out to you, Fake Friend

For the ‘love’ you said you deserve

Because you did help me in the end

I didn't even know I was hurt

Unfortunately, now you have ruined me

I can't love or trust on a whim

It took me a while to see

That my future looks very grim

Because, Fake Friend, I'll carry you everywhere

Compare everyone I meet to you

Their words, their smiles, and their care

And wonder if it's actually true

You want to know the worst part

One thing you can't undo

You were planted deep in my heart

Fake Friend, I still love you

Fall semester of twenty-twenty two

I was eager, and hungry for kindle to spark anew

I saw a familiar face

one that I had once seen somewhere around this place

I sat between you and Rin to finish the row

and in a way I don’t remember, we said hello

As the semester continued

I had become smothered by my issues

and when my fire was choked,

I lost sight in it’s dying smoke

my light was weak

it was beginning to dwindle

it wasn’t until you made me laugh

that I realized you were kindle

I didn’t have to tell you what was wrong

and you didn’t need to know what was going on

When things were rough

your presence was enough

despite that,

you have done more

than I could have asked for

I have no clue

as to what I have done to deserve you

and I don’t know how long you’ll be around

but while you are,

I’ll be thankful for this friendship we’ve found

Spring semester of twenty-twenty three

and you were still on my right--still beside me

whether it was to help me remember

or to make me feel better

you gave me a letter

When I tire

I will remember my fire

With my kindle inside

From the ashes, I will rise

We are phoenixes

and when I say this, I mean it

for you

for others

for myself

I will fight

I will fight for my light

I will fight for my life

and with you and others by my side

I will burn bright

Why does the world work the way it does?

Does it throw us for a loop just because?

Does it take pride in knocking us down?

Or does it just test us to see if we’ll drown?

This life is a social experiment from Hell

At the gates, we await the sound of the bell

When it’s time, we jump, never asking why

We hold our breath sharply and don’t open our eyes

Falling unknowingly of where we will land

We reach to our side and latch onto a hand 

“If I’m going down, then you’re coming with me”

This life is cruel and greedy, to put it quite simply

We open our eyes to views we’d already known

Only this time we were told to go it alone

No support from our mothers, no push of the hand 

“You’re an Adult now,” they say, “devise your own plan.”

In confusion, we walk and stumble along

Getting knocked down, and told to be strong

We must learn the new ways of this scary, big world

Because we’re all adults now, so let’s give it a whirl

We’re told we must follow regulations and rules

They say we can no longer behave like a fool

We’re stripped of our fun and our nature to be dumb

But in the same breath they’ll preach about freedom

We solely live to work at jobs we can’t stand

So that we can make money we don’t have to demand

We’re treated like slaves in a working class system

And there’s not a damn thing we can do to resist them

The hours are long; the payoff not worth it

We spend most of our days miserable and hurting

Yet we try and we try and we try to no avail
‘Til we realize, this whole time we were set up to fail

Nobody told us that it would be this hard

No one informed me they could decline my card

Nobody prepared me for so much rejection

And no one told me that stress ruins your complexion

Why does the world work the way it does?

Does it throw us for a loop just because?

Does it take pride in knocking us down?

Or is this the world saying “You’re an Adult Now”

My earthly fingers, frigid and frozen

Extend blindingly from pole to pole

The luster of my rigid, chrome-like skin

Would soon die out amidst the cold

Innocent beings call me their home

And for them, I offer my blessing

Yet now the sun burns me down to the bone

And I can’t soon foresee it setting

My precious ice sheds tears in a vast lake

As I stand broken and far less tall

Shards of myself now dispersed and opaque

Mirrors that cast no reflection at all

Why has the chill that wisps through the air

Forsaken the grounds that it feeds?

My Earth is unthawing, and you, blissfully unaware

Subdue my cries and mock my pleas

My earthly fingers, now melted and thin

Extend no more from pole to pole

The luster of my rigid, chrome-like skin

Has died out, no longer amidst the cold