You dial a number.
It’s a number you’ve known from heart since you were eight, to call in case of emergencies, to talk, to cry and to laugh. This number is home.
The phone rings.
And you wait.
There is nothing else to do.
The knot in your stomach won’t ease, it sits there, heavy, demanding to be felt. A small spark of hope rests in your chest.
Maybe this time there will be an answer.
There isn’t though, after the ringing never seems to stop, and goes on, the only other sound being your breathing.
The voicemail is both disappointing and a relief to hear.
You hang up before it starts recording.
It tides you ove
Look at me
when I'm desperate
for your attention.
Look at me
when I'm sobbing
out your name.
Look at me
when no one
else will listen.
Look at me
because I'm
crying
begging
s c r e a m i n g
for help
Look at me
won't you look at me?
Please someone look at me
and save me from myself.
Look at me
because if you don't
I might just
d i s a p p e a r
Dear Mother
when I was a baby
you held me in your arms
and rocked me to sleep
you were my world
and I wanted nothing else
when I was ten
you watched me ride my bike
and called out for me to be safe
I called you silly
but I liked the concern
when I was fifteen
I went on my first date
and you told me to call to be safe
when I came home in tears
I loved your embrace
when I was twenty
I dropped out of college
and you were sick
you didn't know how bad
but no one knew at that time
when I was twenty three
you died in my arms
as I read you a story you told me
and I cried as I was alone in the house
with your cold body
when I was a child
you to
We are blood and earth, not theory and chalk. by Oilux, literature
Literature
We are blood and earth, not theory and chalk.
I will stitch my skin together
with thread of moons and stars
to contain the joy of living
and suppress the sadness of death
and
light
will
shine
through
the
seams
blinding the nonbelievers
with beams of the cosmos
you look so good
bathed in the novas and galaxies
to
always
guide
your
way
home
made up
when the dead rise
and the people scream
and cry
I will run to safety
in the empty caskets
where the dead no longer rest
to meet my brother again
I promise not to cry
when the realization comes
that the dead should stay dead
Her hair was orange
and glowed in the fire
turning black and ash
not a single moment later
the scissors were cold
The embers were
glowing just the same
hungry for her tresses
the royal red burned
yet no burn was left
Her hair was short
uneven with amber roots
outgrowing the dye
showing her natural shade
mom and dad took the scissors away
Orange locks tickle her neck
fire cannot fight fire
mom and dad breathe easier
she does not touch the scissors
though she always looks
She is eighteen
leaving home is a blessing
her hair bundled in a hat
she does not like to see it
the brightness keeps her up at night
The hairdresser mourns her hair
m
don’t talk
just breathe
stand straight
smile brightly
don’t argue
don’t fight
don’t cry
don’t frown
do homework
go to parties
sneak out
get drunk
listen to friends
go with the flow
be silent
drink some more
don’t let them see the tears
as you cry yourself to sleep
for the most important thing
is to be popular
Of a graveyard mismatched piles of bones,
upturned dirt offer little solace for forgotten
no markers told of where they lay.
Silent burials happened there.
Not a word said as the dirt poured in the grave
of mismatched bones and broken skin.
For among the bones tales of woe sing out
sorrow for the lost moments and forgotten love
no one visits their graves in the forest.
Soft crying as they buried the past
quiet promises never to forget and please forgive
for it will never happen again they swear.
Yet the shallow graves all around,
speak a different story of hurt and pain
with mismatched bones sealing it away.
Unheard souls lay without
the boys gestured and jeered
‘what happened?’
‘what’d you do to your hair?’
‘boys won’t like you now.’
she turned away, smiling all the while
head shaved and pink scarf in place
‘because it’s too hot’
‘I want a fresh start’
‘I never liked my long hair anyways’
but at home she cries
though the tears won’t fall
because it was shave
or watch it fall out
no one comments on the lost weight
or the bags gathering under her eyes
for she hides it with pink clothes and makeup
chemo starts she throws up in school
the teachers send her home, but her paren