#vss365 Loving you was fair day: unattended innocence, cotton candy and funnel cake, free tilt-a-whirl rides, returning home, sick, holding a pink chick, my #consolation prize after losing my heart to a traveling carnie in the tunnel of love.

#vss365 The book slips from my hand as I cling to the verse My trembling fingers silently recite a #soliloquy of discovery, “his mouth” “his lips” my novice fingertips search for meaning “blush and bloom” I gasp, knowing a secret tangled in #magenta sheets I return the novel to mama’s nightstand.

#vss365 Looking back on my wedding day, I see now I should’ve run away. #Augury and omens I ignored for the boy I adored. A butterfly fluttered My bouquet fell from my hand. A baby cried. He lost our wedding band. Years have passed; we bicker and fight. I wish I’d heeded the warnings that night.

#vss365 She slips away, lithe & #chic as she once was— a patchouli–jasmine déjà-vu, false echoes of beauty’s love. Slowly fading, gaunt, ghost-thin, summoned only in used-to-be stories memories of back when. Her cheek damp with salty tears, puppy kisses— unconditional love is what she most misses.

#vss365 The choir sang “La Llorona” soft and low as the sun’s last shadow met the moon’s rising glow. #Vespertine vines of jasmine white blanket the babes who are tucked in tight. The weeping lady is doomed to roam a riverbank of necrosol loam. And the choir sang, “Ay de mí, Llorona… Llorona…”

#vss365 1 of 4 My days are shaped by encounters—parroted greetings from unguarded faces. Each face a chemical #reflection flashed in a moment. Slack-skin indifference. Jaw-pulsing frustration. Wide-eyed wonder. I am searching for smiles that crease the corners of eyes. I am searching for…

#vss365 The ache comes in cycles calendar dates, circled rituals in memoriam as if I could ever forget. But memories refuse to be #timed. Grief wafts in on a scent, a song, a turn of phrase. Unexpected tears catch me unprepared like an old friend crashing my holiday.

#vss365 I signed up for a SMART injection to become proficient in a Specific, #Measurable, #Achievable, #Relevant, Technology. When the AI pushed into my DNA, my chaotic heart rebelled. AI was alien; not artificial. Regret was my last human emotion before becoming its breathable suit of skin.

#vss365 Snuggled warm lacking nothing I hear a call for #action “FIRE!” they scream Waters rise Winds whip Hail spits in their faces Everything’s frozen— including me Nothing #specific stirs me I’m a whisper in the roar In the paine I see A reflection— pitiful, helpless, cuddled cozy on my sofa.

#vss365 Inky memories bleed from my pen I weigh #option with obligation My words beg to outlive me. My life blurs blue, in metaphor. In chapters, #reality meets idealism. I weave a fading tapestry rainbow emotions threaded with dread. No photographs. No proof I lived. Edges gilded foolish-gold.

#vss365 a teardrop’s #goal is to release a heart’s ache and wash away regret.

#vss365 1 of 3 I stepped forward, hesitated, then backed away, shaking my head. “It’s safe,” he insisted. “The #science is sound. I’ve traveled back twice. I met my grandfather in 1915 Brooklyn, and went again in 1920 to attend his wedding in Louisiana.” “It’s not that,” I said.

#vss365 Fabulous Satellite neon blinking music begging me to sway I caught you By the loop of your Levi’s pulled you into me whispered, "stay" Your hands found my hips In the name of romance we began to dance A cocktail napkin A stolen pen I wrote my #number but by then the ink was as drunk as I

#vss365 We are born equal, yet creative minds #measure themselves against history, discover #myth, and cross the line of fate to define their destinies.

#vss365 You're a piece of work improvisational fiction, unreliable as narrator of your own autobiography. Thrilling. Moody. Foreshadowing a future in complicated metaphor. Pulp into #literature mundane to-dos peppered with prose. Exciting. Tragic. Laughing. Tears. Hopeful years yet to be written.

#vss365 Sheltered shelters, running on time— seven to seven, housing part-time. Homeless, unhoused, life on the street: breaking the #law just by having a seat. Don’t sleep on benches. Don’t set your stuff down. Don't bother no one. Just shuffle around. Helpless. Unemployable. Surviving — despite

#vss365 the dance of deaf hands silently enigmatic as #language takes flight

#vss365 Louisa Clark, influenced by influencers, worked at the 99¢ Store, saving pennies to someday explore the cinemascope #geography beyond the city limits—not live like her family, all stayers, root planters, moss gatherers. She’d be #history if she had ever made it past the county line.

#vss365 I've a killer idea for a book," he told his date, "LAST WORDS." "Of #famous people?" she asked. "No. Just people, like you." His blade was sharp. A crimson scarf pooled at her throat. Using her blood as ink, he wrote in his journal, "Why me? I'm nobody."

#vss365 From fiction I’ve learned to survive empathy, history how to navigate life Biographic vulnerability beginning to end secrets spilled on family and friend Cautionary tales fairytale starts fated love stories villainous hearts My #education from a young age extracted, absorbed page by page

#vss365 We met in the wild wed as I came of age I kept his home he kept a key to my rage At night he still roamed free but his love had made a #domestic of me until my dull kitchen knife cut the strings of man and wife I returned to the wild feral, free He found a new wife one who masters the key

#vss365 Mitzi was a #creature of contention — born with a bone to pick. She fed on rumor and rivalry, and I was her rival. You knew this and still met her after school, while I waited in the gym. I was wearing your letter jacket and class ring. She was wearing you on her arm.

#vss365 Sue was buttoned up. All #business — from top knot to sensible heels. Her pleated skirt fell a finger’s tip below her knee. As we passed I nodded. Then, a quick back glance, I saw her skirt tucked haphazard into a red thong, hose clipped by garter belt— toilet paper fluttering from her shoe.

#vss365 Dishes done kids tucked in late this night I begin My #experiment a ritual brewing kettle of herbs black cat mewing Beneath Hunter’s Moon this #Halloween night my offering is lifted to Selene’s light An #argent #ray silvers midnight strands a witch’s streak woven by Moon Goddess hands.

#vss365 The world was unraveling, and we were distracted, counting victims of earthquakes and hurricanes, of violence and injustice. October 29 loomed predatory as the #heliacal #creep of 3I/ATLAS cruised into our solar system on a collision course with the Sun. We blamed Mercury in retrograde.

#vss365 A spring beauty, once worshiped in the summer of sin, chose strangers’ adoration over loving bond of kin. When autumn’s colors faded, winter settled in. She recalled her memories— a daughter, a lover, a friend. None came. Oh, but #terror, faithful terror came, and stayed until the end.

#vss365 Every day I wander, navigating faces of familiar strangers with fleeting eyes and wooden smiles. We avoid connection. And I wander, am I the #martian, or are they?

#vss365 I survived Medusa Mama’s words turned love to stone And Dionysus Daddy, his promises came broken My sisters a Harpy, a Siren, an Echo, said never be smarter, prettier, or more clever But I feared the Minotaur Mama’s golden boy who taught me to fade between breaths to be #unseen or suffer

#vss365 From the back porch Grandpa studies the river his livelihood since forever From the kitchen Grandma studies him Trembling hands, hot coffee Her best cup and #saucer Nippon, prewar His #energy wans hers does not The screen door snaps she’s there his cup in her hands her kerchief in his.

#vss365 1of4 Intimate bits are strewn around the room. I am a goddess, draped in a sheet of shame. He appears and I fall to the floor, my drunken transgressions pooling at his feet. Between sniffles and sobs, he stands still—this tin man, void of heart. His #arid words bite like Antarctic wind.

#vss365 It wasn’t tanks; it was SUVs. Not a foreign aggressor, but political pawns patrolling our blocks. Neighbors screamed their names as they were taken. #Unearthly cries from families drew us into the streets. We were bugs — armed with protest signs, live posts, and a chorus of hashtag causes.

#vss365 By day she’s dull, dormant— a #beetle bug hiding in plain sight, unnoticed as the doormat stepped on a million times without apology. But in the dark, she glimmers— the color of glow, a femme fatale firefly twinkling for amateur stargazers, little boys in men’s bodies.

#vss365 not my best moment fraught, distraught stretched too thin I admit, I threw a fit since when’s that a sin? in hell, I dwell spinning wheels spin take after take real-to-reel heartache remastering my mistake like six-seven, I’m a meme your #deluxe de-lu-lu queen One love. You won, love

#vss365 Barefoot dancing, splashing through life. Lazing in clover, racing across blacktop roads Crayola-colored sunshine, with sepia #undertones Honeybees Chiggers Hot tar Stings Bites Blister-burns The world wore #raincoats; I wore shame No— I never saw a #piranha, only a boy Who smiled at me

#vss365 Sleepy hollows pulse with #verve; Season peepers work my nerve. The forest exhales its dying green; Duck-decked Jeeps crowd every scene. Creepers sip pumpkin lattes on the go, Honk and holler, block traffic flow.

#vss365 We face a new wave of societal morality— our choices deemed #libertine, our freedoms twisted into ehat they call sin. Our survival is deemed degenerate too; they label and libel, they shade us in shame. But I choose to walk in sunshine, and when it rains, I will be a rainbow.

#vss365 Here’s to the nameless muse flitting through life, unaware of their combustibility. They are an incandescent spark that ignites our creativity and the #ash we scatter when our fire dies.

#vss365 We meet in a liminal space I call family— My thoughts demand voice yet betray me as they leave my lips. Lost in babel, they escape definition, to #clash with intent. Your ears open as your heart does not— you accept these refugees, believing what I cannot defend.

#vss365 The #advert misled me with its #elastic guarantee. My waistband snapped in the hallway— my panties slid down my knee. My #associates pointed, snickered, and stared; I just kept walking, as if I hadn’t cared.

#vss365 I lie here lay here exist Between open bottle and dirty blender emotions squeezed #pulp clinging to pith My zest still green tinged with naivety ah, I am a sticky mess but not your counter to clean I only want to be to gather fruit flies, gnats, ants who sip my sadness until it is gone.

#vss365 Storm season came with a thunderous downpour. Emotions spilled, and everyone sought refuge. The abandoned left to find an #oasis— a place to wait out the torrent. But this season was worse than the last. This season brought irreparable damage.

#vss365 Without photos, we try and recall our childhood. A scrapped book— sharp-edged, tear-faded, half-written. Our abandoned lore. Fragmented memories #blur as we blend our experiences into something... something we can bear. And with time, we learn to live with our truth.

#vss365 What a #conundrum! A life lived— happily? well… married, nearly 20 years. They don’t speak, can’t share a space; A son voices wishes in the ruins of disgrace. A family weighed in hands by a civil servant paper mountain of demands. Paper dolls glued together ripped apart— changed forever.

#vss365 1 of 2 In chambers of #caprice judge a young man faced his fate. A #sonorous truth he spoke— he prayed his words held weight. Under judge’s #scrutiny, his #escutcheon cracked apart— a family shield now fractured, exposing his guarded heart.

#vss365 My #eventuality became reality. My future, my potential, still my choice— for a limited time.

#vss365 The #bellwether of morality is missing— nowhere to be found. Humanity is scattered; lost, we listen for a sound. Wooly-eyes flock to social media, graze blind in mirrored fields, of choice, feed on psychopathy, #reinvigorate a discordant voice. Where have the shepherds gone?

#vss365 Your hand slips from mine, you turn away, blending into a clique of friends. Shame’s blush fades as you fade from sight. #Perhaps this is a stage we all pass through before our parent becomes a person. By instinct, I touch my gold cross, think of Mama's sacrifices for an ungrateful me.

#vss365 Everything feels #catastrophe. Even good isn’t as good as could be. But when it’s bad, it spins way worse. This is the fabric of my anxious universe.

#vss365 A wife and mother took oath to be true But when she testified her life turned askew. Her words came out bitter, an #extrusion, sharp, amiss. Judge gave ruling— socially relabeled “Mrs.” to plain “Miss.” No longer mother no longer wife sons went with their father freed from her toxic life.

#vss365 The night is long, this winter harsh. My reserve low. Each awakening, I reach for what is gone. My #stock dwindles, my panic rises— but never the sun. I fear I do not have the fortitude to see me through these, my darkest days. And yet I know... this indifferent planet turns.