In your backyard, the sun on our faces. Your hand slipped in mine. You’re smiling down at me, touching my hair. I giggle and look up at the sky. I'm wondering what your thinking about me. Do you think I'm some frivolous, naive middle schooler or do you see me as a beautiful young woman? You pull me close to you and I gasp as I feel your arms wrap around me. I wonder what you are going to do,...

Who would've known that the one bedroom flat on Charterhouse Lane would be memorable? The stucco ceilings, the beige parquet flooring, creaky windows the length and width of an arm. In the corner furthest from the front door slept a knitted rug curled around a scratched table hammered together haphazardly. A loved sofa sagging in the middle was its own canvas for coffee, wine and other innocuous stains that seemed to be a motif around the apartment; for there wasn't a...

We spend hours picking peaches. Gathering them in baskets and climbing precariously on stepstools. The slant of the hill makes me lean to one side so I won't fall. I wobble. You steady me and we giggle. Another hour is spent in the kitchen, slicing the peaches. My hands drip with the juice. We gather a dozen peach pits and take them to the back porch. We try everything. Hammers, rocks, our shoes. We can only manage to crack open...

We spend hours picking peaches. Gathering them in baskets and climbing precariously on stepstools. The slant of the hill makes me lean to one side so I won't fall. I wobble. You steady me and we giggle. Another hour is spent in the kitchen, slicing the peaches. My hands drip with the juice. We gather a dozen peach pits and take them to the back porch. We try everything. Hammers, rocks, our shoes. We can only manage to crack open...

Every elaborate smile filled their hearts with the warmth of the place. The elderly people would move in such joy to see the familiar faces and, hand in hand, walk with a swift pace. Each would beam at the small kindnesses. Each would dread those hands waving endlessly. And in the starlit evening, they would anticipate when the morning should dawn upon them and when they could share the love of family again.

I miss the most is school, going to school everyday was the most important thing to me. To further my education. To further my thoughts, to further my life. To insure that I can leave the nest when I’m old enough. I will miss my parents but I want to show them I can live on my own. I choose my path and I wish to go back to the way things were before 2020. Sorry for rambling on but...

 In your backyard, the sun on our faces. Your hand slipped in mine. Your smiling down at me, touching my hair. I giggle and look up at the sky. I'm wondering what your thinking about me. Do you think I'm some frivolous, naive middle schooler or do you see me as a beautiful young woman? You pull me close to you and I gasp as I feel your arms wrap around me. Then I relax and lean into you. You...

In your backyard, the sun on our faces. Your hand slipped in mine. Your smiling down at me, touching my hair. I giggle and look up at the sky. I'm wondering what your thinking about me. Do you think I'm some frivolous, naive middle schooler or do you see me as a beautiful young woman? You pull me close to you and I gasp as I feel your arms wrap around me. Then I relax and lean into you. You...

Since I was born,and until I was 8, I had moved four times, across two different countries. Every time we got somewhere new, I tried not to get attached. But every time, it was just as hard to leave. 
This may have been why, back than, my grandmother’s house on k. Street felt more like my home than any other place. It was the only place that hadn’t changed, no matter where my family went. 
My grandmother is the most...

I love the feeling of having the windows down
and having music blast into my ears,
I love the way I was always smiling
and never thought to shed my tears.
I love the way I would sit and smile
while I looked at my family whom I was finally near.
But I hated the way I could only see this place maybe once a year.

No matter where I was,
the dunes of the desert, the waters of the...

i. I wake up to the howling wind. Strange. I’m a deep sleeper. Even my house creaks and budges. I’m not feeling so good.

ii. Smoke. Billowing, fiery vermilion clouds of gas erupt at the speed of light, the glow of impending doom visible from my window. I wonder if I’ll die, trapped within gas and fire. Perhaps this is how the people of Pompeii felt, although their deaths were immediate.

iii. Occasional sunlight glimpses behind the clouded skies but...

Untouched golden sand covering the floor with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Soothing gentle sea breeze rustles through your hair. The smell of salt rushes through your nose as you breathe in fresh air. With the sun beating on my back, beaming in my eyes.

Untouched golden sand covering the floor with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Soothing gentle sea breeze rustles through your hair. The smell of salt rushes through your nose as you breathe in fresh air. With the sun beating on my back, beaming in my eyes. 

    Tiny, insignificant, an island in the middle of the sea. Somehow, though, whenever I see a map, my eyes are instinctively drawn to that dot southeast of China. At first glance, there is nothing special about it. Just another landmass. The country I've had to research over and over again for school projects. 
    Adjust the magnification, and look again. A green crescent, tree-covered mountains, some urban areas. Surrounded by blue, endless ocean. Formosa, its Portuguese name....

plaster peels from the rundown walls. folding chairs sit at awkward angles in front of a dance floor. the smell of ancient furnace air lingers in my nose. the cold air freezes the sweat before it an even leaves my aching body. i long to relax into the cold wooden floor and just watch the day go by, but instead i move. i explode on rhythm with the trumpets or melt into the music of the glockenspiel. And when i...

Quiet chatter fills the aisles, voices floating between the bookshelves. There are plenty of people in the store, but the towering piles of books, games, and collectibles hide them from view. The smell of coffee and paper permeate the air. A soft warmth fills the building, like the last rays of sunlight kissing your face before the summer sun sets.
    I drag my finger along the spines of books as I walk down the aisles. I'm not looking...

I remember it. That world so far away from now. That world where walking in the city wasn't dangerous. My grandmother and I would drive past the boats and the spire. We would walk past the street musicians and the fish throwers. The smell of seafood on ice would make some vomit but it smelled like home to me. We would walk through the winding, uneven halls of the vertical market place with home made shops, not a franchise in...

Concrete Walls,
Many windows, 
A yard with the
Greenest grass, 
A sunroom, 
Paintings
Of meadows
And fruit, 
Where all
The Good 
Memories Lie, 
Where all the 
Stress vanishes
Without a 
Trace, Not to
Be found, 
Where I can 
Stop to smell
The roses, 
Listen to 
Nature’s sounds,
During the 
Whitest Winters, 
The Hottest Summers,
A place full of warmth
And where
I can finally be me. 

 

Ahhh yes. Imagine sitting on a big, big chair made with soft, smooth fabric. Your arm goes up and down, flipping the little furs on the chair back and forth. You feel delicate, you feel cozy, you feel comfortable. There is some kind of meditaion music playing, as dim orange lights shining from the corners. A cup of hot chocolate is sitting on the table, and a nice warm sugar cookie rests on a clean white plate. A navy blue...

I love the feeling of having the windows down
and having music blast into my ears,
I love the way I was always smiling
and never thought to shed my tears.
I love the way I would sit and smile
while I looked at my family whom I was finally near.
But I hated the way I could only see this place maybe once a year.

It made me realize its funny how fast a month goes by 
How distance...

    I can still picture the crystal blue ocean in my head, feel the wind blowing either peacefully or violently, the warm and bright sun, the comfortable and yet sweltering heat, and the smell of my favorite stores. 

    Most people, especially where I am from, have never experienced the adventure of moving to another town or a different country, for that matter. I, however, have. I was only four year old when my family moved from a...

   6:45 A.M.
   BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...
    The alarm on my phone goes off. My eyes fly open, and I jump right out of bed. Today's the day, I keep thinking as I get on my swimsuit, pack up my towels, and eat some breakfast. Today's the day Today's the day Today's the day!

    7:30 A.M.
    Fifteen minutes until warmup starts. I'm hanging out with my friends, and we're all laughing and joking as...

The Library looks modern from the outside but when you walk in, it feels like I went back decades. At first, it feels boring and lifeless but as I stand still, I realise that is not the case.

I soon feel the zaps of energy in the air from the people around me, who are reading books of all kinds. At first, I don't understand what’s happening or what I’m feeling, having been in here many times before. Walking around...

The small coffee shops, hidden gems among the big, commercial chain Starbucks 
A girl, young and smiling, walking in to sit down on the big leather chair
Her MacBook illuminating her features, the words refecting off her round frame glasses 
The mug of tea, bitter and potent as she sips its peppermint sharpness 
A twinkle in her brown, molten gold eyes as she enters the universe she created herself 
Her lips twitching, she click-clacks the keys, oblivious to the...

i miss a place that doesn't exist in the physical world; rather, it is the tangible manifestation of a headspace long gone, a headspace characterized by effervescent imagination, vibrant, technicolor movies, pillow forts with my cousins and pretending to be a pirate on a misty sea. what i miss is the seeds of childhood - those formative years where everything seemed just a little bit brighter, just a little bit happier. the vibrancy of youth has now faded into muted...