the bits and pieces

A collection of mostly everyone else's things for the purpose of keeping my wit and whimsy sharp and on point.

[bitsysanders]

afterlife for a millenial

Heaven is every mix CD I ever made and gifted, waiting for me, unscratched, in their crisp, polypropylene, prismatic splendor. It’s the smell of those backroads lined with infinite cornfields where the lightning bugs freely float, putting each Christmas light to a sad, sad shame.Heaven is the flash of a smile from across a diner booth, and later, after much overthinking, finding AIM messages from…

[bitsysanders]

for sale, as is

Don’t worry, I turned off my heart.I disconnected its valves andtapped my foot to its last beat.I repainted the walls of its chambersa nice neutral color that wouldreally brighten up the space.No trace of love.No trail of grief.You wouldn’t even be able to tellthat it belonged to someone else.I spackled the holes left behind,plastered its cracks, sanded its nicks.Refinished the worn floors…

[bitsysanders]

before the spoil

Ripe on the branchI’ve become your burden.Heavy with fullness,I am now too much—too much sweetness beneath my skin;too much of an ache for eager fingers to pluck;for an enticed mouth to bite.Ripe on the branchI’ve always meant to be enjoyed.Now, with each breeze, I beg to be set free. © Bitsy Sanders, September 2025

[bitsysanders]

little green dot

I never grew tall enough to confidently grasp the top shelf cereal box on the first try. Fumbling, I’d finger its corners—swiping mercilessly at its edges until I could feel it fillthe curves of my desperate palm.It gives in. Gravity assists.Heels hit the floor.I won again.Then, Persistence was myfavorite professor who alwayscurved the final. I never grew ware enough toconfidently grasp when I…

[bitsysanders]

pinball wizard

Her reckless love bats betweenbright colors and moving lights—pinging with bonus pointsfor kindness and understanding;slingshots for extra livesbecause she felt somethingand meant it.He’s not used to having aplayfield quite like this.She makes this exciting;a fifty-cent thrill thathe can afford to entertain as long as he cares to.  Insert, launch, flip. Under glass, she’s…

[bitsysanders]

sewing machine for a lightning rod

When I was in seventh grade,I learned the basics of sewing.The basics of how to stitchthings together in a waythat gave them a larger purpose.I found ways to do thatwith the small thingsthat found meaning with mein the years that followed—collecting them,stitching them together,to become part of mylarger purpose. Books that left marks on the mind,lyrics that realigned crooked feelings,the magic…

[bitsysanders]

BWI direct to XNA

I used to think I kept you like a secret. Is it a secret if no one knows it’s being kept? Maybe I’ll never know, but if I did have the chops to say it out loud,  I’d tell them that I have dreams about that plane ride. I’d take the 6AM flight just so the colors of the sunrise would  chase me for a thousand miles. I’d sip my hot coffee  with too much cream and make small talk with the…

[bitsysanders]

dear limpo

Thank you for waking me up on time to make my flight. I bought you a ticket, even though you can’t come along.I smile as youcarefully fold my favorite dress,while I scrambleand scrape beneath the bed for my suitcase.You smile too, butI see the sadness rest on your lips. It’s silent; so unforgiving.I want to softly kiss it away, for hours,in a place where our bed is made, but only for a moment,and…

[bitsysanders]

avant garde

Maybe I’m born to set things free—to let them go, andwatch that distance slowly swallow them whole.Maybe (surely) my talent iscracking my heart, little by little.(But only during the thunderclapsso no one else can hear.)Busted but beating,I fashion its fractures into art byfilling its spaces withvibrant pigments and sounds that satisfy.Good as new, I tell myself ina tone all too familiar,and…

[bitsysanders]

to Portland with love

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[bitsysanders]

happy birthday, Robin

I called you from my tin-can phone, to sing you “Happy Birthday.”Then, I floated twelve balloonsinto the sky and so far away.I anchored them with paper cranes,neatly creased and made to fly, I whispered you a birthday wishfor each one that floated by. And if they make it to you, through wind and rain and sun, they’ll unfold themselves so slowly, revealing a message in each one. Twelve amazing…

[bitsysanders]

the swell before the silence

Your heart spoke in a crescendo;soft, then deafening, then soft again.I didn’t mind. I wanted to feel it. I wanted to feel every wax and waneas you wrote each bar. SSo I leanedfurther and further in as your music swelled. Swallowed whole by a sound I knew I would always remember. Enveloped in lyricsI would tell myself to forget. Then with no warningit all ends. Some argue the silence is louder,…

[bitsysanders]

resiliency

We pull ourselves tightlike the skinof a drum headso that when it hits us,we do not break—                                    we sing. © Bitsy Sanders, April 2016

[bitsysanders]

twenty-nine

Twenty-nine belts bravery from a bottle.It feels like all talk and no game.Twenty-nine has thighs that don’t lieand a finger that motions youto come closer.It relearns each facet of loveand finds beauty in its own reflection.Twenty-nine betters the inventioninstead of reinventing it.It imagines kissing strangers to feel alive andgifts the pearl to the jewel thiefwith no words- only…

[bitsysanders]

(of a place) unfrequented and remote

Maybe what I needis to stay awake long enoughto watch the sunset again.But don’t pity me, please.I’m just “lonely;”It’s the teacher I can always look up to.It thickens the skin and deepens the thoughts.It reminds me why I enjoy the soundof a stranger’s laugh,and presses me to admit thatI miss being touched.Lonely looks a lot like a harvested cotton field,and if you inhale the air as you drive…

[bitsysanders]

student loan debt

They tell my generationto stay hydrated,after leading us onan eighteen-year journeyto a dry well.No wonder we’redying off by the thousands—a learned, unquenchable thirstfor something that doesn’t exist. © Bitsy Sanders, June 2019

[bitsysanders]

rejection before a first date

The car’s not on butyour seatbelt is.Going zero miles per hour,you are guaranteed to hitnothing.You are guaranteed to seenothing.You are guaranteed to gonowhere.You’re in a safe place— at home,without a single smudge on the exterior,without a single story to tell,without a single soulwaiting to hear what’s next.Don’t worry.I’ll wave as I drive by,going 80 down some coastal highway,filling up…