#inkstainedwrists

[inkstainedwrists]

Night Owl

Artwork by Yaoyao Ma Van As Half past five. I have never been known to be good at goodbye, perhaps that is why every day I struggle to part ways with the night. Some might say I am too comfortable in the embrace of the dark. I stay up to share secrets with the moon and stars. They have been intimate friends of mine for such a long time, Always I can count on their daily companionship.

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When I was a kid, I used to be scared of the dead. Now that I am older, it’s the living that scare me. 

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The first time I wrote about you.

Artwork by Lynn Choi I sense your presence all around me. I hear you in a love song on the radio. I see you in the man on the motorcycle next to me on the intersection. I feel you in the jolt of excitement that surges through me when I hear the ping of a text message and I find myself hoping it’s you. I think I am falling in love with you. With you, it feels like the first time. With you, enough is never enough. I guess this must be what love feels like. I love you...

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Summer Bird

Artwork by Pascal Campion Summer bird I heard you flew north That these days you stay where the old birds soar from when their bones get frail and their feathers turn gray. Never again may I see your face. Nor get out from within what I’ve wondered since not long after you went away. Always you were my keeper of secrets I should’ve known you kept some of your own.

[inkstainedwrists]

East Texas Summer Day

Artwork by Pascal Campion We are ever-changing An East Texas summer day The only thing consistent about us Is how inconsistent we can be Sometimes we are a perfect thunderstorm of emotions Dark Somber We see our fair share of rain Rumbling Roaring Loudly making our voices heard The power of yours shakes me at my core In a way that not a whole lot does anymore A reminder That I am not all that different From these woodland trees towering all around us Majestic and beautiful as they may be Even they quiver when these Texas skies sound off with a mighty thunder reminiscent of the Lone Star spirit You and me We can both be Hurricanes Leaving behind us a path of destruction A mess left for us to clean up tomorrow

But sometimes we are a cloud-free, sunny day Warm Golden Illuminating all the dark in one another’s worlds

Nourishing Energizing You cultivate life in the places in me that were once barren Oh my sunshine I sing for you on these sunny days Under your green thumb I have bloomed Look how magnificently I flourish when your light radiates down upon me I’ll have you know I wouldn't change any of it May we always be an East Texas summer day Because without the rain And without the sunshine These woodland hills wouldn’t be as lush and scenic as they are today.