The tender caress of her being
Enter Romeo
It counts for nothing
Enter Juliet

Shakespearian tragedy
Romance of the ages
Die a lot dialogue
on unstable stages
Do you not ever wonder
why we’re trapped in these cages
when a man who loved dick jokes
wrote ‘true love’ on torn pages

Made his own fucking language
just cause he could
Made Portia and Rosalind
cross dress in the woods
So hide your true nature
just cause you should
and remind yourself daily
of the stage they all stood

We kind of understand,
they weren’t allowed to fall in love
But why cry for him and her
when you call Viola rough
Juliet was 13
yet that was good enough?
Blind to the hypocrisy
of calling your son a puff

I want to stop seeing on the news
they weren’t allowed to fall in love

Only, Romeo and Juliet
did it on their own
So desperate for each other
More than life they would have thrown
So why weep for them
but not the women that were stoned?
Holding hands in quiet remembrance
of eternity alone

I don’t want another tragedy
in real life or on stage
Applause for the actors,
boos for the rage
Do you not ever wonder
why we’re trapped in this cage?
When you only cry for true love
when it’s fucking straight.

Don’t read outside the lines
Don’t read outside the lines
May God forgive your crimes
Being Roman Catholic was illegal.

You don’t scare me,
y’know?
Your intense fondness of your own company,
yielding peaceful results, I’m sure.
Yet you seem oddly surrounded by people whenever you seem happiest on your own.

It’s easy to fall in love with the chatter of a coffee shop and
if there were a name for the subtle whirring of the espresso machine,
it’d be the same as the smell.
It’s easy to equate the smell of coffee with home
when you love being on your own but never truly alone.

Your own thoughts
don’t make for good talk.
Conversations with yourself get a little out of sort,
leaving residue the same as whittled-down white chalk
that you know you can’t erase just by going for a walk.

You’ll have to have this fight with yourself one day.
You realise that, right?
You can’t just give yourself the silent treatment
listening to whale songs at night.
I’ll happily be your mediator,
I know you don’t bite.
It’s okay.
You’ll be alright.

I promise

I’d watch her in class
Eyes green as stained glass
Felt like my heart would drop to my feet

One day caught her stare
Ran her hands through my hair
Outside we were too scared to…………………meet

Goosebumps from her laugh
Maybe pulled away too fast
Found I was looking for a
…………………………………………………………sign

She opened a door
I’d never seen before
And held out her hand for

………………………………………………………………………mine

The way that she stood
The way that she could
Make me see ‘baby we are


……………………………………………………………………………..enough

We both knew the score
Hearts burning for more
Once we realised that this could be



…………………………………………………………………………….love

Just as quick as we fell
Found her too scared to tell
And she said




……………………………………………………….Nevermind.

I fell in love with him the way he wanted to
Not out of fondness but out of fear
He
didn’t know the difference
Told me he loved me after three days
Told me he’d kill me after four

When you wake up in the middle of the night
Unable to keep your eyes closed
When you sit on the sofa waiting for light
Sweet silence when you need it the most

When you sit in a group breaking lockdown rules
A simple stress relief and a laugh
When you reminisce about life in high school
Without truly thinking about your past

Do you feel me?

When I laid, legs open, sprawled across that ground
Eyes wide, too afraid to move
When I stared at your ceiling waiting for a sound
That you told me I could never prove

When I stood in that doorway, not sure what to do
Sweet silence ringing in my ears
When I listened to you tell me that it simply wasn’t true
That room became one of my fears. So

What you see when you can’t sleep,
is what I see when I do. So
when you don’t sleep
but I can,
I’m sitting right next to you.

Do you see me?

Flowers befalling every moment she fought with more strength than she had to bare
Flat sorrows steal sore light from her face while her faith leaves nothing to compare
She watches

Carried burdens becoming girls given gift of stained pure sight
A sense of belonging never known in youth hung quietly in the night
For unknown feels sweeter than awaiting her forbidden promise fade angrily in the air

Flirting the line between her and her remained hidden in shallow dunes of calloused care
Forever felt the tormented love in the wicked shadows of death’s stare
She watches

Breathing soft spoken carefully chosen never dared to raise her voice
Screams in the dead of night dreamed her desert calmed by her carefully written choice
For unknown feels sweeter than awaiting her forbidden promise fade angrily in the air

Fallen hourglass never returned, her sand-filled mind without repair
Fate bewildered by confused clarity pouring an abyss within her glare
She watches

Fearful life given for simple freedom stood side by side with ware
Feigned glee lived burdened birth she never asked for soul to pair
Free tearless never closed eyes glazed empty in fixed stare
She watches

The first villanelle I ever wrote, that I entered into my first poetry competition in 2020.

I’m so happy! She cries

You make me happy! She lies

No I do love you! She tries

So I’ll do what you want.

I’m sorry. She sighs

I just didn’t want to. He pries

No I do love you! Thank God he buys

Only for a second. She writhes

This time her thighs

Too many to hide

When can I die

I’m so happy! She cries.

The skeleton in my closet is my daughter

No clothes, her smile wearing thin

Kept safe from the prying eyes of the outside

Through fear of living in sin

Calling her name in the hopes of an answer

Flesh and blood that belonged to me

That now sit in dry bones in the back of my mind

Of a girl loved, but never seen.

I thought they were gone forever

Until someone told me that it was okay

Reminded me not to strain

Told me to take my time and meant it.

Looked at me with kind eyes

With patience that would divide into

Thousands of kisses

Replacing hisses

No more “slut” “whore” “pathetic bitch”s

No more mismatched romance decided by

How lightly I chose to walk that day

Is this what love is supposed to say?

My mother always told me to have sex with people I love.
So I did.
I loved him.
I once loved him twice in one night.
His cheeks so soft and easy to caress
His hands so gentle as he lifts up my dress
And that’s why it’s my fault
When 2 years later
He takes my unconsciousness for a yes.