Posts for June 5, 2025 (page 16)

I’m glad you finally reached out. I’m sure you have felt lonely dealing with yourself and not talking to anyone about your troubles. I understand when you express that you don’t want to get anyone else involved. You don’t want to owe anyone anything. But isn’t owing an apology to everyone greater than any favor you may have to return? If the bonds of your love with others are weak, where shall your strength be found in times of need? You don’t think there is a reason to be better, but you don’t know what is yet to come. You may miss opportunities because you aren’t ready. Champion being more optimistic; your current pessimism has you static in a place you are not fond of. Here’s the deal: if you end up liking where you are currently better than where you may end up after changing your mindset, you can always go back to the place you are now. The alcohol and negative thought patterns will be just as accessible in the future as they currently are. I haven’t heard back from you in a week, but I check your social media profile daily for a glimpse of how you may be doing.

Mom, I’m sorry that I bothered you before bed.
I know you’ve been working all day, and we didn’t get to see each other at all.
You must be so tired.
I thought it would be nice to say hello.
Will you tuck me into bed?
Never mind, my sister can do it instead.

Mom, why hasn’t Dad called?
His girlfriend told me she was going to make me sleep outside.
I don’t see them anymore.
Why doesn’t he want us?

You were so young when you had us, so
I shouldn’t resent you when you get mad,
Nor for the father you chose for me.
It was just a mistake, after all.

Mom, are we really moving out of our grandparents’ house?
You really love your new fiancé,
But I thought you would be less angry with someone else around.
Please tell me how I can make you happy.

Mom, I’m sorry for coming out.
I’ll go back to church and pray it goes away.
Just please don’t hit me again.

Mom, I’m sorry for leaving the house after coming out.
I was scared and sad, but it was selfish of me to leave home just because I didn’t like your reaction.

Mom, I don’t feel like I can trust you anymore.
But now you’re being nice to me again,
Now that my hair is a natural color and I wear dresses more often.
I’m really happy you got the daughter you wanted in the end.

Mom, I wish we were like other mothers and daughters.
We’ve never had a heart-to-heart conversation,
And I don’t know if that’ll ever change.
But Mom, I still love you.

beyond every

other

dream, desire, and

youthful dalliance lies

disillusionment —

yearning for

something

more,

only to find

resistance, denial, and revulsion—

painfully perplexed—

how can

I

appear this way?

Just because we are human, we are prisoners of the years. Yet that very prison is the room of discipline in which we, driven by the urgency of time, create.   
                                                                                                                 — from Jewish liturgy

Today
the hungover man
awoke, still broke,
to see that poetry
read in a brewery
was not a recipe
for prosperity.
So the hungover man
took a stand,
writing out of love
for writing in his land.

A woman boards the train with eighty stolen Jacksons stitched in bra cups.