be gentle. be gentle with yourself. with your grief. with your loneliness. with your heartache. coddle it. kiss it. lul it to sleep. let it suckle the tears from your eyes. allow it to grow. to swell. to take over. find a place to set it down. walk away from it. look back. feel bad for leaving it behind. keep on. keep on crying. keep on laughing. keep your heart steady— one day you’ll dance at its beat. find your…

against the odds, you search for her. the light filters through her soul like something holy and in quiet awe you found salvation in the form of a woman—sacred and sinful.  she comes with redemption and forgiveness; she licks the wounds clean. you are resurrected and exiled into her eternal light. you meant to take, but she gave. not of her body—but of her mercy. and now you kneel not out of devotion, but out of disbelief.  she lets you…

i wept so loudly, so ferociously, that the god’s pitied me, they exalted me into the sea of sorrow; where my tears kept the arc of our memories afloat, where the ache in my shoulders of the heavy burdens i bare can be put down—just for a moment.  it is here where i pluck the thorns from your brows of the crown you wear,  where our sins combined are no longer accounted for, completely absolved, abolished, anointed by the grace…

should you ever leave, i will deny myself of love, i will barricade my heart behind barbed wire, i will sew my eyes shut until i see you again. i will whisper your name into the night until the stars remember how to shine. i will carry your laughter in my bones, a haunting melody i can’t unlearn. should you ever leave, i will count the days in shadows and sighs, i will trace your absence like a fragile scar.…

you ever look at indigenous women with our dark brown eyes and see the twinkle reflect back into yours? that’s hope. that’s healing. that’s good medicine. that’s the look of intergenerational healing. it starts off as a glimmer. a tiny speck of sunshine. it starts off as one week sober.it starts off as going back to school.it starts off as braiding your hair.it starts off as asking “when’s the next roundy?”it starts off by hugging your parents.it starts off by…

diet cokes and key lime pies, winter time never felt so warm, you and all your jewels, my lust for life— run, wild rabbits, run, deep in the willows, your hand in mine, tracing constellations on your palm, as the stars fold into us, embers are reignited once again, crowned forever,  the queen of fire.

a spark to start the flame, tempests roar,  and storms rage  the heat sears my skin,blinding and relentless,but i stand,  unyielding,watching the world blurthrough waves of fury. ashes collect at my feet,evidence of trials faced,sacrifices madein silence,  in screams,in moments where breakingfelt inevitable. but beneath,there is something primal,ancient,  unmoved—a heartbeat steady,a promise whispered,not of survival,but of resurgence, because, “in order to rise from it’s own ashes, a phoenix first must burn…” I AM THE GIRL ON FIRE. 

my favourite palindrome is you— the same forwards and backwards, inside out and right side up, never changing, always the same, no matter which way you turn, no matter how hard you convince me, you remain untamed, immutable.

after you left, i found new ways to love myself again— i treated my wounded heart with gentleness, braided the sadness into knots, beaded the betrayal into hope, danced instead of cried, greeted every stranger with a smile, woke up earlier, ate all three meals, and i prayed… prayed so hard, prayed you were sorry, prayed that you missed me, prayed you’d come back— come back as a changed man one who loved instead lusted, one who slayed my dragons,…

the time travellers train makes a stop in my dreams, the choice is yours to dance beneath her wings—encapsulated by divine awe. the seasons change, welcoming in every passerby—the birch bark stories are yours to share. she is ceremony, she is medicine, she is healing. embrace the unknown, go forward— it’s time to wake up.