





I wrote this poem in August of 2022.

the shelf of my bookcase breaks, and my poetry notebooks fall
every single one of my love stories scattered on the floor
Failure after failure
Were any of them worth the effort?
Was the experience worth the suffering?
Maybe it was for the inspiration behind my prose and poetry
and the growth Iβve had
Still, that doesnβt seem like an adequate answer
I wrote this poem in August of 2023.

In humility I ask mama Killa for guidance
To send me a sign of some kind
as I start to unravel and lose myself in my anxiety
and insecurities
As I start to question if Iβm on the right path
and throw myself a pity party and cry
because no one is coming to save me
And how despite all the empowerment
I feel with my autonomy
I still miss being in a relationship
and cover myself up in defeat
Thinking Iβll always be this lonely
But mama Killa sends me a reminder of the love
of sisterhood in my dreams
to remind me Iβm on the right path
Mama Killa, in her own way, reassures me that staying
true to myself and continuing what sometimes feels like
a challenging and cringy journey of self-discovery
Is the right thing for me to do in order to heal, to grow, to evolve
and to remember everything will fall into place
as long as I keep going and never give up
I wrote this poem in August of 2022.

I breathe grief in, I exhale grief out
my pain needs a way out
because despair and sorrow fill up my lungs
and anger sits at the bottom of my stomach
and Iβm tired of living like this
a life full of emotional intensity
And supposedly thereβs a cure for it
with therapy and radical acceptance
but how do I accept that every man
whoβs ever professed his love to me
always leaves
Will my romantic misfortune one day end?
or am I destined to repeat the same story
of abandonment
over and over again?
I wrote this poem in August of 2022.

the consequences of being a hopeless romantic outweigh any rewards
everytime I start to believe in love it never works out
Everytime I start to believe in love it ends up in chaos and destruction
and i try and try again only always to have the same ending
and after 26 years of doing this-I donβt have it in me
to endure around love failure
someone who appears sure of me-only for them to change their mind
about me on a whim
the consequences of being a hopeless romantic has filled a dozen
notebooks and journals with sorrow and grief
I wrote this poem in August 2023.

Iβm curious about the aliens on earth
and if theyβre into NSA, telepathic sex
the kind where I get to lie down
and sleep, and they come into my dreams
and make me have multiple orgasms
Over and over again
perhaps these are crazy thoughts
from a middle-aged woman
whoβs been celibate for more than a year
And is oh so thirsty for intimacy
but canβt stand the thought of a man
getting near me
it makes me want to vomit
at this point Iβd take some extra terrestrial
Out of the universe sex without any feelings involved
the kind that fixes my craving for connection
and intimacy
the kind that doesnβt bring me another episode
of psychosis
Day 10 of doing a 31-day poetry prompt challenge. The prompt was “Leaves on the Road “.

I wrote this poem in August of 2023.

anything resembling love threatens the home Iβve built
over the past two years
and yet the romantic threads in me wonβt disappear
they want to weave another love story
they want to be pulled into the magic to getting know
someone new
and having arms to call home
I wrote this poem in August of 2022.

My love data tells me I shouldnβt try again because every time
I crash and burn and cause trauma and drama
because every time it ends, I get hateful and want revenge
and While I do appreciate the poetry that comes
after every broken relationship
I donβt think I can withstand the heartbreak and hardship
the next time it ends
I wrote this poem in August of 2023.

could we have done more?
could his story have had a different ending?
could we have all been more compassionate-
more open instead of entrenched and absorbed in our own worlds?
all of these questions are asked, days or week or even months
later, wondering-if we carry any blame or responsibility
when someone ends their life with their own two hands
here’s the English version of this poem:
poetry: short circuit
tuvimos un cortocircuito
y nuestro lucero de amor
se apago
ni siquiera queda una chispa
de la pasiΓ³n que alguna vez
compartimos
y me pregunto una vez mΓ‘s-
ΒΏSerΓ‘ que para mi, el amor
Siempre serΓ‘ algo como agua
que se escapa de mis manos?
I wrote this poem in August of 2023.

all of us have been or will be dumpster fires
it doesnβt matter who you are
man, woman or non binary
white, black or brown
with or without a mental health diagnosis
working class or upper class
at one point or another weβll all be toxic to another person
or to ourselves
some of us admit it and cringe
some of us will ignore it or blame someone else
all of us have been or will be dumpster fires
itβs a rite of passage