I know not how to be an individual,
although biologically, yes, I am my own person.
But still, biologically, I am to form new flesh and blood with no prior instructions.
How to craft a cerulean personality that was to sprout from my own mental illness

It hurts, the hollow throb of losing—losing someone always does. But it was different this time. “It’s not fair!” She wanted to scream a blood soaked cry into the world, one begging for lost time back and just one more chance. Perhaps it wasn’t fair.

Independence is about the freedom one deserves,
a right one must have to live.
A right to breathe, to dream, to write their own story in a world
we call ours.

I watch as the sun sets,
the beautiful descent of a once glorious noon,
falling down, down, down,
leaving in its wake, a bloody path of oranges, pinks, reds,
—a shade of orange reminiscent of a raging fire,
A fire that destroyed a family’s home