i don't want to live like this anymore i don't want to live, do you want me to live? if we could go back would i still stand here in front of you with tears running down my face? i am wailing can you hear me? can you feel me? did you ever want to?

sorry for being born i wish i didn't have to

apologize for things that

aren't my fault

Challenge

If we were having coffee

Every paragraph needs to start with these words. Or every stanza of your poem. I would prefer prose for this one. I'm entering this one as an example.

miki5

• 33 reads

longing

if we were having coffee

rain would be coating the windowpanes

come back to earth by mac miller

playing in the background

the bed unmade in the room behind us

our warmth lingering there

if we were having coffee

it’d be at 10 in the morning

us shivering in our kitchen

standing shoulder to shoulder as we watch

the keurig brew

i’d lean my head on your shoulder and

you’d lean on me

our silence holding

more meaning than any words would carry

you’d follow me to the table by the window

bringing your bowl of cereal

the rain continuing to pour

if only.

miki5

• 10 reads

return

i haven't felt this whole in awhile

miki5

• 21 reads

sorry i’ve been gone

writing is a hand that will never

let go of me

that fact is the single most terrifying and

comforting thing i will ever have the

honor of knowing

to be the words that reach you

to be myself in the art i type

a faded song echoing in the bathroom at 4 am

i cannot help but think that this is a

beautiful way to

miki5

• 18 reads

fever dream

i cannot help but circle back to you

like a

(bad habit)

i cannot help but think of you

with my head pounding and

wrists numb

think of you

on me

around me

with me

as i fill up all the empty parts in you and

you do the same for me

i wake up in a cold sweat

running a 112 fever

your goddamn scent stuck in my nose and

my phone running on 5% battery

(i wish i could say this is your fault)

Challenge

Pen to the Paper 7

Write with absolutely no plan whatsoever. It can be a story, a poem, or anything else: it truly doesn't matter. You don't have to use your first draft: do as many drafts as you see fit. Remember to have fun!

miki5

• 27 reads

to be her

to the you

five years from now

i will find out if

this body of mine was too small for my ambitions

i send a piece of me into the sky

hoping it will dye it

(breathtakingly)

as other wishes have

endless sunsets before

may i visit places i've never seen before

speak languages not of my native tongue

may i rest when i need it

and have fun in the chaos

to be healthy and happy and comfortable

with endless opportunities before me

may i meet people who will make me fall in love with life

may i be friends with the girl in the reflection

may i make mistakes and learn from them in grace

five years from now;

to be her.

miki5

• 35 reads

nineteen

i called your name as

you called mine

both needing the other

was it my fault that

my call was left

unanswered,

i wonder

miki5

• 30 reads

disillusioned

i am stuck in time

paying for mistakes i made as a

different person

(i need to leave this place)

miki5

• 11 reads

paradigm

to sleep in the same bed with someone she

wages war with daily

(what strength she has)

-mother

miki5

• 28 reads

this argument has been brewing for awhile

my mom is sobbing as

my dad threatens that he’ll kill himself

in the room over

the air sharp and cold as it flows through an open window

i think i need a shower

to scrub off all this dirt

to empty my ears and my brain

to scrub off the melanin my skin carries

to erase the history i’m

forced to live through daily

our balanced days were always fragile i guess

tonight, too

he manipulates her like

she wishes she could manipulate him

...

i just usher my siblings in and

shut the door