Bri Gallagher – A Poem About Beauty

Here’s a question to all of the ladies out there in the world:

When someone looks at you, what do they see?

They will see will see the gorgeous locks of hair that cover your head and shimmer in the sunlight

They will see lovely-shaded glimmering eyes that could only be described as flawless

They will see the perfectly smooth skin that covers your body and a smile that lights up the room whenever flashed

They will see pure beauty

—

Now answer me this question:

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

I see nothing but pure ugliness

I see disgusting miniature blackened bumps littered across my face

I see the hideous pink scars that are forever inked into my skin

I see the cringe-worthy amount of flab that collects among my abdomen and legs

I see a smile that should never be displayed outside the locked doors of my home

I hate my body

I’m not good enough

I’m never good enough

—

To all the girls who think this way about themselves:

Look at yourselves in the mirror

This time, look past your physical flaws

Turn away from society’s standards of beauty

Ignore those who want to change who you are

And do me this one favor:

When you see yourself in the mirror

Look at your reflection and say out loud

“You are beautiful”

Because no matter what you or anyone else says to that mirror-image

No matter how different that image is to society’s standards

No matter how flawed your body might be

You are beautiful

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Hannah Rohen – 11/2/15

I wish you were mine,

I wish I was yours.

You’re on my mind everyday,

you’re on my mind every night.

It’s there, I know it, I can feel it…

but what.
What is it
what can it be
what will it be.

Will the time ever come
when I can hold you in my arms,
when you hold me in yours.

I want you.
Nothing less
nothing more,
just
you.
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Bri Gallagher – What is Love?

Remember the nervousness you would feel when you stood before your crush, searching for the right words that describe how you feel?

Feeling the butterflies in your stomach fluttering about and your tongue tied into knots, struggling to keep your composure; fearing they do not share your affections?

Hoping and praying that they love you too

Love

What exactly is love?

Love is the highest point of affection that one could ever experience with another

Love is the feeling of wanting someone to stand by your side through the peaks and valleys we call life

Love is the desire to spend the remainder of  your days alongside that one other person

Love is remaining loyal to another individual  no matter what the consequences might be

—

Nowadays, love is putting aside family and friends and your personal priorities and replacing them with the one your love

Love is letting their mistakes slide while struggling to prevent your own

Love is enduring madness and arguments and beatings and still having the strength and heart to forgive them

Love is being forced to hide the origins of bruises and broken bones and allowing your one chance of escape to slip away if it meant you would continue to live your life with your supposed “soulmate”

—

Love will blind you from the truth

Yet even after the ship of freedom has long sailed away from your dock, there are still other means of getting across the wretched sea of abuse and torment

The friends and family you assumed were long gone

Those who continue to support and love you even after being cast aside like how the desert winds blow away the fragile sand

Love

What exactly is love?

The everlasting strength that allows you to care for someone even after receiving nothing but the cold shoulder and the silent treatment

The burst of inspiration that grants you the courage to protect and defend that individual with your very life

The overpowering sensation that prevents bonds from melting into poison

Love is what keeps the light of our souls away from the mysterious and shadowy hand of Death

Love is stronger than fear

Love is a beautiful emotion

Love should never be an excuse for suffering

Love should never have to hurt

Not before

Not now

Not ever

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Ryleigh Spetoskey – I Am the Weather

I am the rain
bringing life to the ones who cannot hold their own
pushing oil spills and debris for miles by my side
running down sidewalks until I sacrifice myself
to the sewers of hopelessness and despair
uncleansing myself, not looking for reconciliation
I am the snow
landing on children’s tongues and under heavy trucks
causing auto wrecks and bringing misery to the midwest
forcing people to look in awe as I arrive in
October and leave in April
they like when I leave
I am the wind
tangling women in their scarves
cluttering homes that do not deserve such cluttering
howling in such pain because I cannot bear the
sprinting that I commit
whilst in the tornado of leaves
I am the sun
beating down on red faces
holding such power under my wing
knowing that I am burning with anger and have
the ability to kill
though they all trust me
I am whether humanity can survive the harshness
of reality. I am whether they can take the hear,
or freeze in the power of my heart
I am the midwest weather
and I’m constantly changing.
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Haley Dood – Untitled

Love.

Love is the thing with dimples,

that brushes against your nose,

And cries out in silence,

And falls so ever slow,

And tender in this light is heard,

And comfort must be the touch,

That could ail the strongest man,

That kept so many shy,

I’ve traced the deepest ponds,

And on such soft pebbles,

Yet, I never felt,

Its

Fingers

  Slip

    past me.

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Hannah Rohen – Not Mine

The first time I saw you

and the moments after that.

Each time

like the beginning.

Thoughts race, run, speed

through my mind.

It could be different,

it could be what we want.

It’s the way you carry yourself,

all high and mighty,

the one who has their life together.

Thoughts racing through my mind,

what ifs, what could be, what may never happen.

The planning, the figuring, the realization

that nothing will be so.

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Quinn Kirby – Wristy Business

Bus is boarded; uniforms on. Chants exchanged and ponytails drawn.

Erupt in mumbles, music, monotony. Hopes reaching as high as our flying three.

It’s a drive.

We arrive.

Exits. Entries. Our entry; we enter. Voices bounce best off brick when on adventures.

“We enter when?”

“Enter where?”

Enter here.

“Enter there?”

My mind is bare.

(Way to perpetuate the stereotype, girls)

Then, a breath of fresh air – a worn and wilted wasteland of cheery-leaders within an echoing chamber of laminated wood.  The wonderland of worries in Seussical succession had seceded. I could think once again.

Ready…?

Good.

We approached as an army; we saluted and we stood.

All we lacked was simply, “Go ahead,” and when they spoke, we could.

headheelsheadheelsheadheels stop

thumpthrobthumpthrobthumpthrob drop

Wrists.

Wrecked.

“Buck up,” Coach checked.

Held my own. Held back tears.

Seventh (last) place. First (last) year.

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Matty H. – Fixer Upper

3-25-15 5:16 pm

someone very close to me once said that I was broken;

that the idea of my mind and body connecting with each other

was like the idea of a dead man returning from war to see his family.

someone very close to me once said that my sanity was reserved

for the day that someone finally reached out their arms and fixed me.

with open palms and closed eyes I would jump into my senses

as if I had never known what it was like to feel,

and with tangled limbs I would walk on to a place called “home”.

someone very close to me did not see through my glazed eyes and crooked features

long enough to notice that the storm inside of me was not something  I wanted to repair.

laying on a bed of coals would not warm my stagnant blood

and the sentient white noise that I had become could not be drowned out –

not by all of the music in the world,

and certainly not by their voice screaming at the top of its register for me to just. wake. up.

someone very close to me had the most beautiful voice I had ever had the pleasure of perceiving,

but it was not enough to pull me out of a bout of silence.

nothing was.

someone very close to me had eyes that could make even the stars cower in shame,

but they were not luminous enough to light my way to a brighter, happier place.

nothing was.

nothing needed to be.

for, you see, I was never broken.

I was never lost, or helpless.

the doors to my mind are never unhinged, nor are they ever bolted shut.

they are simply mine –

to open and close as I please.

my tenebrous labyrinth of a body is not twisting in unfathomable ways,

it is simply mine,

to shape, and warp, and care for

as I deem fit.

someone very close to me once said that I was broken.

someone very close to me was not as intertwined with my corkscrew of a mind

as I once thought.

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