(Content Warning: Mental Health)
Rose
How is it that a flower can be so upfront about itself
It is beautiful when it blooms, yet as it withers it becomes apparent that the blossom cannot go on
I envy flowers.
My outward beauty reflects nothing of my heart
Yearning for feeling, for change
Desiring someone to see my wilting soul
Layers of mascara, and antidepressants hide my screams
I fall deeper into the precipice that is my livelihood
School
Work
Sleep
Eat
Hidden by victoria’s secret perfume, and hair dye I am starving
Starving for inconsistency, adventure
Programmed to survive and not to live
I wonder
Do flowers ever get tired
They wilt, and still are beautiful
Hung up on walls
Wedding bouquets
Funeral bundles
Tears, joy
Sadness, grief
I am a flower
I need sunlight
Water, but not too much
I’m forgotten
The flower that hides in the dark room
Neglected, abandoned and isolated while the nurturers party in cancun
Alone
A beauty people envy
A suffering people cannot see
A flower is not upfront about itself
It hides growing pains behind delicate petals
It stifles tears behind sweet aromas
She gives pleasure to all, leaving her pollen as a souvenir of good spirits
She hides her insecurity behind confidence
Yet without nurturing she will wilt
submitted anonymously
(Content Warning: ED, substance reference)
For a Girl to Fall in Love
by Sydney Bednarz
I am a girl
who has fallen in love
more times than I can recall.
Kindergarten was when I first fell in love,
with the soft plucking of an acoustic guitar.
It reminded me of Puff the Magic Dragon,
of my father singing me to sleep,
and of the warm milk and cookies,
every now and then,
as a treat before bed and his way
of saying I love you.
Then it was the smell of books.
The overwhelming stench
of aged paper infiltrating my nostrils
whenever I walked to the library
three blocks away from my childhood home.
I moved away five years later.
The library became a smoke shop,
the redolent scent of Frog and Toad
was replaced by the fumes
of discount double apple hookah,
A flavor I would soon fall in love with.
It reminded me of the first lips I ever tasted,
and the idle promises that escaped them,
promises I’d ingest as gospel.
Feeling sick of feeling full
from the lies I was fed,
I quickly fell in love with emptiness.
My temple became the bathroom,
trembling over the shrine of a BMI scale.
Standing in the mirror, tugging at skin
I longed to sacrifice and prayed
for the day I’d fall out of love
with feeling empty and cold.
Candles couldn’t stop growing
on the cake I wouldn’t eat,
nothing could taste sweeter
than how the world used to be.
When I would count stars
instead of calories.
When airports were for vacation,
not coming home.
When baby pictures were
just pictures.
When I didn’t know that growing up
meant outgrowing
the things you once loved.
Too many birthdays had passed
since the last time I fell in love,
so I went back to the city I grew up in.
I drove past the places
where I laughed and played,
listening to a CD of Peter, Paul, and Mary.
I willed the milk and cookies
to slip down my throat
and reach the cavernous depths
inside me.
Although it wasn’t as warm
as it was before,
the warmth had filled me
once again.
Hands that pulled at the skin,
once home to a broken girl,
now wrapped around the body
of a mended and whole woman.
It is easy for a girl to fall in love,
but it is the hardest thing
for a woman
to fall in love with herself.
trees living sideways
a tree
living sideways
clung to trembling granite
on the side of a mountain
foam torrents
comb dampened roots
threatening timid pebbles
as bark begins to rot
submitted anonymously
Collection by Samantha Congdon
(Content Warning: SA, abortion, mention of suicide)
God Bless America, Amazing Grace
The world is a wonderful yet horrendous place
Masks being worn and false information slammed in our face
Politicians paying civilians to get their way
Americans dividing greater amounts each and every day
From police brutality and white privilege
To sitting for the pledge and defying our Heritage
Girls and women scared to leave their houses at night
Their bodies being controlled by old men
We need to fight
Along with all the spread of hateful words
An enormous support system has emerged
Gender identity and sexual orientation
Have become a huge topic within not only our nation
Racism and sexism have been fought not hidden
For we are trying to create a better community for our children
Religion, sexuality and what we say should be optional
We shouldn't have to fear ending up in the hospital
Let our voices be heard and our actions be seen
After all isn't this supposed to be the land of the free
Song after song written about this place
“God Bless America, Amazing Grace”
More than Just a Girl
Women
Powerful beings just as, if not more capable than men
Brought down by societies views on them
Their bodies and choices becoming a legal bill
There is so much more on the hill
Not just a hill but a mountain
Problems that need to be solved
But there will be no changes unless we fight
Misogyny hopefully resolved
97% Ninety-seven percent
Violated, harassed, assaulted
All indecent
More than indecent
The trauma that comes with carrying a knife alone at night
A man walks by and triggers fight or flight
In the efforts of flight sometimes you get away
But taking classes for fight is sometimes the way
Class you have to go because he is stronger than you
Even sometimes with a fight there is nothing you can do
To all those powerful women who are making it through
You are strong and beautiful, such amazing things you can do
In your life don’t let the bad guy ruin your rein
He isn’t worth the pain
I know it hurts
It will be alright
But keep going everyday
So that you can say
I am better than him in every way
Not all men are bad, don’t get me wrong
When you find the one, man, woman or person, they will help you stay strong
Keep your head up baby
This is your world
Let everyone know you are more than just a girl
What is their worth...to you?
How many lives will be taken
Do you realize that we are being forsaken
You would prefer destroying lives of the living
Rather than let those destroy cells that aren't alive, breathing
Keep in mind the rate of suicide
When you pass your law for women you decide to subside
This is not "pro-life”
It is just pro birth
The children at the border surrounded by strife
What is their worth...to you?
You say you're pro life yet you care so little
For the children who will be born into households so brittle
Young girls
Even 12 years old
Forced to take on a baby
Result from sexual assault
Not only will abortion keep on occurring
But the people and the press will keep on stirring
You think the Black Lives Matter protests were bad
Lets see what happens when you get a world of women mad
Not only will we fight until we are given our right
To our body, to our choice, the entirety of our life
Your lack of integrity towards people with a uterus
Will leave you in infamy, your legacy rotting like rust
The fact that barricades have been placed so early
Shows the fear and the knowledge that their will be surely...a fight
A fight that we have been fighting for years on end
New reasons to battle harder when we were just around the bend
Making it up a staircase of 40 flights
Only to be kicked down thirty, dimming our lights
You ignorant people may say “It’s only 30”
Not realizing we are losing 3/4ths of our progress, losing years of the journey
We will not let the brave women who have fought for our freedom
See work they have put in be resigned to the kingdom...of men
This “kingdom” per say is much less than delightful
But one where the fight for power is an endless cycle
We are more than just objects, we are human beings too
This is my letter to the republicans, and to all of you
Though you instill fear to anyone with the ability
We will fight back, I know, for the majority is with me
To all you brave people whose lives this overturning affects
Don't back down, don't let them treat you as just an object
We together are strong and can make such a change
Don't let this uphill battle only bring you pain
We are all in this together and we will make it someday
Just keep going and someday we won't be the prey
Those in power now, will soon be in disarray
icarus
by Rachel Uon
he tilts his head back
and it is beautiful
when the sun smiles down on him
and the heavens croon their song
the saints jeer and call him a fool
he has only ever longed for freedom
and he’d do it all again
to guarantee the same result
and he is beautiful, too,
for what other men have dared to be so proud?
it is not arrogance
of the sins he has committed, happiness is not one
the wax burns his skin
he doesn’t mind
he would rather be burning for defiance
than tied down
by fraying thread
to the shadows of nothing on the wall
it leaves a trail as it melts
a labyrinth of its own
with no clear escape
there is no possible ending
to the game that will never be played again
below him lays the ocean
where he will drown
something in him has always known the inevitability of death
has cradled it in aching hands
has rolled the dice and ignored the numbers
as he drowns, his tears will turn the water gold
and everything he’s ever done
will live on in a corpse
but the corpse’s eyes are always smiling
and the sea will smile back as it swallows him whole
he has decided that
he has not lost
and who is the world to challenge him?
for he still met the sun
looked it in the eye and said hello
and danced with the wind
and sang before the sky
yes, he has won
and no one can stop him from bragging
surely he has earned the right
Polar Bear, Look to the Northern Lights
by Daniel Svoboda
Imprints are left in the snow,
As you walk along the chilling ice,
And as you look down,
You see not a soul but yourself,
On this cold, dark ice pad.
The air is freezing,
But your body is strong,
And your fur is warm,
And most of all,
You can look up,
See the vibrant rays color the sky in marvelous color.
You can see a sky, filled with meaningless lines and dots,
Or you can see your life and purpose in these lights,
Each ray, an experience,
Each star in the sky a person you have or are yet to meet,
And as you look back down, and see not a soul,
Know that in the stars, in the northern lights of the auroras,
You are not alone.
History Repeats Itself
I will always remember the tears flowing down my face
As we decided we were better off in a different way
All the plans we had relayed, now for a past day
As we said goodbye, through tearfilled eyes
Trying to make each other laugh so we wouldnt cry
Our love is not dead or gone
Just layed to rest until the new dawn
Of a new day, when we are both okay
We will simply not stray from each other
I will wait a million lifetimes
For a new ending with you, my darling
~History repeats itself
In Our Heads
Once upon a time we were all pure and innocent
But like the ink in your tattoos, the red in our hearts fades away.
We see and feel the pain of time.
When you're about to cry, you begin to feel the tightness in our lungs.
As you seek for air, the pain takes over.
As a kid we were all taught there was evil in the world.
But no one expects the so-called monster under our beds to be in our
heads.
submitted anonymously