Day 144

Rosy cheeks like cherry blossoms in spring and
White snow like vanilla buttercream on my lips
I can see you in the lilac sky, a cloud shaped like
a heart that fits perfectly in the palm of my hand.

Day 143

"I want love so good it keeps me awake at night
and consumes my dreams when it finally lets me sleep."

Day 142: Haiku

"It is you who keeps
me smiling through even the
darkest of my days."

Day 141

Hold me when it's so cold my breath fogs up the windows
Warm my hands when the snow covers my eyelashes
and the wind shakes the ice from frozen branches
and promise you'll love me still
when the snow melts and the birds are chirping again.

Day 140

Meet me at the corner
where we first saw each other
under the street light
that's burnt out from the snow
maybe if we relive
the time our eyes met
we'll find love in our hearts
like we did on that day.

Day 139

"Loving someone is seeing them in every face, every dream, and every cloudy sky."

Day 138

"It scares me that I can love you so deeply, and that's still not enough."

Day 137: Stars

With stars above her head
she wishes for someone new,
someone to make her smile
like she hasn't smiled in years,
someone to make her leap
out of bed in the mornings.

With stars above her head
she cries into the dry air
watching her tears stain
her silk nightgown,
denying that all she truly
wants is happiness.

Day 136

"I woke up this morning
with a smile on my face
that meant I'm finally over you
and I've never felt so free."

Day 135

"I wanted no part of your games
but now I'm the best player."

Day 134

"I can almost
taste the poetry
on my lips
after you kiss me."

Day 133: Ten Word Story

"You can try but she doesn't want to be saved."

Day 132

I always knew I loved you
more than you loved me.

You gave me material things
while I wrote you
poetry.

Day 131: Haiku

"Take me as I am
our hearts will beat together,
forever as one."

Day 130

"You may feel like giving up, like your star is crashing down to earth. But to someone else, that star is falling just in time for them to make a wish."

Day 129: Haiku

The water sparkles like
diamonds in the light
toes buried under warm sand
and you are standing by my side.

Day 128

"No," I whispered softly, "I don't believe in destiny." My voice shook. "I don't believe that fate brought us together and I don't believe in soulmates. But I believe in love. I believe in my heart beating so fast it jumps out of my chest. I believe in eyes that were meant to hypnotize. I believe in hands that perfectly fit mine. I believe in people who mend the scars on broken hearts."

Day 127: Ten Word Story

"There is a story in everyone's veins waiting to escape."

Day 126: Rainbow

I almost gave up on finding you
but there you were,
the rainbow after a storm,
a glimpse of color in a dismal sky 
shining through even the darkest of clouds.

Day 125

Branches fall among the violent winds
We stand on the edge, long hair swirling
above our heads and rising toward the sky.
Sharp winds slice our eyes as we pry them open,
wanting to see our last moment before the fall.
We are standing amidst the wreckage
of a world we used to know, a world
destroyed by the winds of God's wrath,
and we've never felt more alive. 

Day 124: Tips for Writer's Block

1. People-watching. Go to the mall, a cafe, a library, etc. Pick someone around you who seems interesting and create a story about them, using details around you. Ask yourself questions: Are they married? Divorced? A student? Retired? Is this their favorite place in the world? Why? 
2. Nature walks. There's no better way to explore nature than to go for a hike or bike through the great outdoors. Bring a notebook and write down details you don't want to forget. 
3. Keep a journal. First of all, jotting down a few lines each day will keep you writing. More importantly, there will be an entire journal for you to look back on and reflect on those memories. If you're suffering from writer's block, open up your journal, pick a day, and write about what you remember.
4. Do your research. Finding more information about a topic will not only teach you something valuable, it will help you fully understand what you're writing about and hopefully help develop your ideas further. Whether it's Googling a topic or visiting a place you want to write about, research will tremendously help. 
5. Use prompts. This is my personal favorite. I love looking up writing and poetry prompts. Often times, they really get the ball rolling. Some of my best work (in my opinion) came from using a prompt I found online. There are endless resources for writing prompts, but here are some of my favorites: Writer's Digest and Creative Writing Now. 

Day 123: Scientists

Eight years ago on Christmas morning, I watched in awe as my brother tore the wrapping paper off his very own “Build Your Own Volcano” kit. Eyes glistening, my brother grabbed my father’s hand and ran to the basement to begin building. As much as I wanted to join in with them, I stopped when my mother shouted for me to come open my final present. I raced back to the living room, thrilled at the thought of having my very own volcano kit. I was giddy from imagining myself in a white lab coat, making a volcano erupt all on my own. Instead, I faked happiness as my mom showed me how to work my new fake oven. I convinced myself it wasn’t that different from a volcano. 


After all, I could pretend my apron was a lab coat and the brown lump of Play-Doh was really molten lava cake.

Day 122: Moments

As each second ticks by, the present becomes the
past and from that point on becomes history, a
memory to be either forgotten or remembered
with the most vivid detail. Every moment either
shapes you, changes you, or falls into the black
hole of time, but it is not gone forever. Simply
search through the shelves of your mind and
you will find every moment is perfectly aligned,
waiting for the day it will be remembered again.

Day 121: The First Snowfall

"Dew droplets covering the dry grass,
the birds fly away together as the
wind shakes glistening snowflakes
from the tree branches where bright
red leaves were once adorned.
I remember the times when I would
so energetically run outside,
creating misshapen snow angels
in every space of my yard.
Now I sit by the fire, peering through
the window and writing words that
could never explain why I so long
to be out there where the wind blows
and the snow begins to fall."

Day 120

I've found my heaven on earth. It took me 18 years to find but now that I have I want to spend every second of every day there. Bookshops have a special place in my heart but this one tops them all. Technically, it's not a bookshop. It's a coffee shop, a cute little nook on the corner of a street full of chain restaurants and department stores.

Besides having the best coffee I've ever tasted, this place sells vinyl records, old films, and of course: shelves upon shelves of used books. From Hemingway to Twain to Nick Offerman (yes, Nick Offerman) this place has it all. Words are everywhere.

I have two favorite parts.

1. They hold poetry slams, open mics, writing workshops, and live music basically every day of the week.

2. All of the drinks are named after classic authors. Melville, Poe, Shakespeare. I mean, where else on Earth can I order a Mary Shelley?

No, seriously. Please tell me...

What's your heaven on earth?

Day 119

"There are two types of people: ones who want you to change for them and ones who change your life by being themselves."

Day 118: Haiku

"My key is made of
silver but your heart is carved
from the finest gold."

Day 117: Excerpt from a book I'll never write

"Actually, there's one last thing before you go. If you're going to leave, I want you to know my heart will be broken. I'll feel pain like a thousand knives and I'll cry a thousand tears and I'll write a thousand love poems about you. This isn't to make you feel guilty or to make you stay. I'm telling you this so you know that even after you're gone, you're making me stronger.
Like it or not, you've changed me.
So I thank you."

Day 116: Guilt

Carrying the weight on my shoulders
of a guilt that can't be cured with
an apology
or a wish
the only trace of my faults
is the path of tears
that follows my every step.