quarantine

there are times when i'm quiet for so long that my voice cracks when i speak.

being alone with my thoughts has made me realize how loud they are.

i've never been alone this much. inside this much.

my life has never been this quiet, yet the emptiness is deafening.

doing nothing is exhausting

sleeping all day is restless

and being alone is,

well,

lonely.

untitled

I don’t like my smile in pictures.

My face is always so scrunched up, criss-crossed with lines and wrinkles across my cheeks.

I always look too intense, too excited, whereas everyone else in the picture looks relaxed, calm.

But I remember reading that your wrinkles tell you which emotion you wear the most.

Wrinkles on your forehead? Shock, fear, surprise.

Wrinkles between your eyes? Worry, anger, intensity.

Wrinkles on your cheeks?

Joy.

Joy so constant and so steady it has etched its marks on your face, on display for the world to see.

And suddenly my smile

My wrinkly, crinkly, scrunched up smile

Became beautiful.

greedy pieces

heart, mind, body, and soul

why do you fight so persistently?

i cannot appease one without upsetting the other

nor give one enough attention without abandoning the others to wilt and wither.

how can I attend to you all at once?

your needs are so diverse, so changing.

demanding, greedy pieces!

wait your turn while I feed the others.

there is only so much of me to go around.

Crash and Break

Yes, I have faults.

But what in this world doesn’t?

Even the waves crash and break.

Tigers have claws. Bees sting.

The wind howls. The sun blazes. Clouds cry.

Even the stars wither and fade.

I am a human of imperfection.

The presence of faults

Is not the lack of beauty or goodness.

Even the waves crash and break.

background noise

there was hurt.

and there was confusion.

and there was frustration.

and there was anguish.

and then,

there was music.

and everything else became background noise.

Medium

Poetry