dear miss america, do you know who i am?
i know not of the reason my parents decided to chase their dreams across the ocean to you, and i doubt they would ever tell me. but if they ever did, would i revere you for sprinkling happiness above their heads or hate you for weathering them to your deceit? am i bow to you for ending the war that almost killed my grandfather or spit on you for letting macarthur...

grooves of crystal/twisting, twisting/dip it in the ink/dark and soulless/drag it against the paper/watch it smear/rake it against flesh/crimson calligraphy on living canvas/how many stories are written in blood/never enough/never/artists knows what to sacrifice/its part of the trade/a deal with the devil/maybe my blood will make me beautiful/a crown of bleeding lace/if suffering is an empire/well/aren't we all monarchs/
/glistening body/warping, warping/fingers its sides/spiraling, spiraling/spiraling all the way down/is that us/a shimmering universe/encased in glass/strong/hard to break/thats what the etsy...

i'm a firecracker child / holding them inches from my face / let the sparks burn my nose and remind me that all good things come at a price / let the embers slip beneath my fingernails and kindle a fight that i didn't know was there / and god forbid i smell like gunpowder / i'm a burial child / mourning my fallen siblings who caught bullets to the heart and soul / i kiss the coffins before they...

y'all know it's a problem
i'm so used to hearing
gun
shots in things but
no no it's just fi'works, said my sister.
my poppa told me they sound like
vietnam; he was there y'all know
he was in vietnam
and he say they sound like a m-60.
and he talk about being lucky,
how they could've shot him dead like they did
with the others.
no matter cause he died in the spring and
my father said we couldn't...

my fuchsia daydreams / yours are painted blue / sweating out our differences / hope flies on the august breeze / grab my hand / squeeze / until i look into those sparkling eyes / who wants a boring happily ever after / let's gallop through our troubles / together / cheap photo booths / posters from our memories / relive / no / recreate / the life we danced into existence / i released the butterflies / in my...

way too late on the road 
stop/ meet your friends and carry their words with
you in a silver blush pink lipstick ripped out suitcase stuffed
in the collage crafted take-out trunk.
roll down the windows when it rains and 
pours on your french fried lap and your silk washed 
locks, sparkle gelatine drops in the strands of their hair and
scream when the vintage bottle drops because you were their mom's 
beloved heir.

cherries scattered loose
sit/ doodle noses...

So let me 
get this straight,
down to the despicable unsavory
Truth.

We
breathe air in a world
where the people 
are more obsessed with gorgeous bodies
that one day
perish into 
forgotten ashes
than gorgeous souls that
gift stars and galaxies
to otherwise lightless worlds and
fade
into infinity

You
breathe air in a world
where the people 
celebrate the guilty
accuse the innocent
where the people
think they are always right
so they hungrily consume lies,
lies which...

America
in all of her colors and shades
never fails to baffle me.

she’s so beautiful, isn’t she?
surrounded by friends,
almost everyone wants a piece
but of course not everyone
can have her.

she has her enemies
but i think we all know
, her included,
that she runs the show.

(demons are worse than enemies anyway.)

god shed his grace on her,
seen through the sand on her shores
and the wealth in her markets
say can you...

i
Why can't I sleep? 
What does my future hold? 
Is time travel a good idea?
Can this year get any worse? 

ii
What is death like? 
Are there ghosts? 
Why are there ghosts? 
Are heaven and hell real?

iii
Will I ever publish a book?
Do people like what I write?
Will I ever finish writing a book?
Will people read the things I publish? 

iv
Why do we have appendixes?
What does the majority of our DNA do? ...

Is it just me or does everyone notice I am so off these couple of days? I feel lonely, yet, there seems to be no way to fix it. 

Is it just me or does everyone think that going into high school is going to be a whole different thing? I even nicknamed it a "new era" for me, but I don't think anyone cares. 

Is it just me or does the same annoying person call you at the same...

dear miss america, do you know who i am?
i know not of the reason my parents decided to chase their dreams across the ocean to you, and i doubt they would ever tell me. but if they ever did, would i revere you for sprinkling happiness above their heads or hate you for weathering them to your deceit? am i bow to you for ending the war that almost killed my grandfather or spit on you for letting macarthur...

grooves of crystal/twisting, twisting/dip it in the ink/dark and soulless/drag it against the paper/watch it smear/rake it against flesh/crimson calligraphy on living canvas/how many stories are written in blood/never enough/never/artists knows what to sacrifice/its part of the trade/a deal with the devil/maybe my blood will make me beautiful/a crown of bleeding lace/if suffering is an empire/well/aren't we all monarchs/
/glistening body/warping, warping/fingers its sides/spiraling, spiraling/spiraling all the way down/is that us/a shimmering universe/encased in glass/strong/hard to break/thats what the etsy...

i'm a firecracker child / holding them inches from my face / let the sparks burn my nose and remind me that all good things come at a price / let the embers slip beneath my fingernails and kindle a fight that i didn't know was there / and god forbid i smell like gunpowder / i'm a burial child / mourning my fallen siblings who caught bullets to the heart and soul / i kiss the coffins before they...

y'all know it's a problem
i'm so used to hearing
gun
shots in things but
no no it's just fi'works, said my sister.
my poppa told me they sound like
vietnam; he was there y'all know
he was in vietnam
and he say they sound like a m-60.
and he talk about being lucky,
how they could've shot him dead like they did
with the others.
no matter cause he died in the spring and
my father said we couldn't...

my fuchsia daydreams / yours are painted blue / sweating out our differences / hope flies on the august breeze / grab my hand / squeeze / until i look into those sparkling eyes / who wants a boring happily ever after / let's gallop through our troubles / together / cheap photo booths / posters from our memories / relive / no / recreate / the life we danced into existence / i released the butterflies / in my...

way too late on the road 
stop/ meet your friends and carry their words with
you in a silver blush pink lipstick ripped out suitcase stuffed
in the collage crafted take-out trunk.
roll down the windows when it rains and 
pours on your french fried lap and your silk washed 
locks, sparkle gelatine drops in the strands of their hair and
scream when the vintage bottle drops because you were their mom's 
beloved heir.

cherries scattered loose
sit/ doodle noses...

So let me 
get this straight,
down to the despicable unsavory
Truth.

We
breathe air in a world
where the people 
are more obsessed with gorgeous bodies
that one day
perish into 
forgotten ashes
than gorgeous souls that
gift stars and galaxies
to otherwise lightless worlds and
fade
into infinity

You
breathe air in a world
where the people 
celebrate the guilty
accuse the innocent
where the people
think they are always right
so they hungrily consume lies,
lies which...

America
in all of her colors and shades
never fails to baffle me.

she’s so beautiful, isn’t she?
surrounded by friends,
almost everyone wants a piece
but of course not everyone
can have her.

she has her enemies
but i think we all know
, her included,
that she runs the show.

(demons are worse than enemies anyway.)

god shed his grace on her,
seen through the sand on her shores
and the wealth in her markets
say can you...

i
Why can't I sleep? 
What does my future hold? 
Is time travel a good idea?
Can this year get any worse? 

ii
What is death like? 
Are there ghosts? 
Why are there ghosts? 
Are heaven and hell real?

iii
Will I ever publish a book?
Do people like what I write?
Will I ever finish writing a book?
Will people read the things I publish? 

iv
Why do we have appendixes?
What does the majority of our DNA do? ...

am i a bad person because of that?
because of the fact that

you loved me
you showed me all your love in all your ways
but i could not accept that love
because i wasn’t used to it

should i have tried harder? should i have tried to make you stay? should i have shown you my love? because god, you were patient with me. and you were all i wanted and needed. and somehow, again, i mentioned to...