Lizzie rested her forehead on her steering wheel. She couldn’t move. Her car was parked downtown facing the train tracks and she needed a train to come by. A big, loud train that would drown out the scream that was inside of her needing to get out. This is how she took care of overwhelming problems in high school. The fact that the last time she remembered coming to this exact spot was when her mom passed away was not lost on her.
Continue readingThere’s no denying
you have been aiming for me.
I’m in your crosshairs,
why can’t you just let it be?
Continue readingLizzie stood outside the library door Friday night wondering how this could possibly be her life now. Instead of a hip New York club she was waiting for someone to open the library, the li-bra-ry door of all places. On a Friday night. “Someone sure hates me,” she said and glanced upward. As soon as she did though, the thought occurred to her if she was still back in New York she would probably be working and still wouldn’t be at a hip New York club unless she was waitressing there. “Fine,” she mumbled to no one in particular. “I get it, I get it.”
Continue readingShe was born in an unhappy home
but the façade was certainly in place
when her parents put on a smiling face.
Continue readingLizzie stepped off the bus and looked around. How was it possible that the small chunk of town she could see looked simultaneously different and yet the same? It was the same place she could remember growing up but with subtle changes. A Wal-Mart inhabited the old Kmart building. A Jimmy Johns was where the old A & W building used to be but that building was gone and a new one stood in its place. Some kind of boutique was where Hallmark used to be. But main street was still the same road. Probably the same potholes, she thought to herself. Although the traffic light itself seemed to be updated to the latest standards. It all felt slightly unfamiliar yet familiar enough she knew where she was. The place she never expected to come back to live.
“Is that my Lizzie?” she heard a voice behind her ask. Charles Carter was not a small man and his booming voice matched his physique.
Continue readingLizzie looked out the bus window and sighed. Even though she had done everything she could to prepare herself emotionally for this trip she could feel it taking a toll. It wasn’t just the journey but the reason behind the trip. When she left New York, she tried to play it cool, like this was what she wanted. But she knew she wasn’t fooling anyone even though they played along. This was not what she wanted to do or where she wanted to be.
Continue readingThe Dreamer went to bed
with a head full of dreams
but woke up
and could remember nothing.
Continue readingMan, sometimes it feels like the world is stacked against you. Nothing you do turns out right. All your decisions feel wrong. You’re an outsider not fitting in. You’re out of place. You don’t get the punchline. Sometimes you feel like you are the punchline. You try to own it by saying it is not your day but the truth is you can’t remember ever having a different kind of day. This is it. This is you. This is your life. And the last thing you want to hear is “it’s okay” because you know it’s not okay. So, I’m not going to tell you that.
Continue reading“Do what comes naturally,”
is the advice they like to dish
but maybe we should think through this
Continue reading
