#poempadour

[austentatious]

You have taken to wearing around your father’s hand-me-down anger. I wish

that you wouldn’t.

It’s a few sizes too big and everyone can see it doesn’t fit you, hangs loose in all

the wrong places, even if it does match your skin color.

Hand-me-downs | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

Men will drift eternal. Men will say, It’s just a scratch, when the cannons have shot them full of holes. They will look at their tiny driftwood tied with strings and say, Ship. They will look at the broken wheel between their hands and say, Captain. They will look to the men who have jumped overboard without them and say, Crew.

Ghost Ship | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s swept away.

B | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call mistakes when you tuck them in at night.

The Type | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

You memorized every love poem he wrote for someone else and slept on a pillow that had held her slumber.

Lightning | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

It is hard to stop loving the ocean. Even after it has left you gasping, salty.

The Type | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

Whenever I hurt myself, my mother says

it is the universe’s way of telling me to

slow down.

The Ladder | Sarah Kay

[austentatious]

I have seen the Taj Mahal

at sunrise, I remember

what love and pain can build.

A Place to Put Our Hands | Sarah Kay