In my side of town nights get longer and longer.
They expand until all proof of sunlight is gone.
Lost souls watch from the nosebleeds and corners,
And the flowers are starting to look pretty gaunt.
In my side of town stories fall on their faces.
Cynics drown them as critics set them ablaze.
People hand me pens that don’t leave a trace
And greedy hands fill our skulls with gray haze.
-Jackie
I want to hold onto this moment and squeeze its palm,
I want to float in it like bodies float in salty oceans.
The fire on the horizon means violence and harm,
And time tells me not to waste my devotion.
Yet, I stretch the clock like dough until it snaps.
My heart shatters like a stained glass window in a storm.
I want to believe that love conquers traps.
I want them to see that your ghost can keep me warm.
-Jackie
I will bow my head to you until the sun sets,
And I will soften my edges,
Just so they are as soft as the night we met.
I will bruise my knees until they do not hurt,
But do not cry for me at night,
Do not drag your royal name through the dirt.
I will kiss the ring to accept my own defeat.
The king is the only law,
And I willingly serve right beneath his feet.
I will bite the arm that fed me lies for years.
I will watch as you scream
While the inevtiable doomsday nears.
I will bruise the flesh of those who hurt me.
I will not need a weapon,
And trust me – I will not need a fair motive.
I will take the throne as the warm sun rises.
I will decapitate your reasons,
I will cut to pieces your twisted compromises.
-Jackie
I broke your heart on a Saturday morning
Between sweat-drenched sheets,
And I did not give you a warning.
You tried to chase after me and change your tune,
But I finally saw you,
Yet your eyes were bigger than the moon.
I broke your heart between casual words
That formed into violent vigilance,
And I was the first to draw a sword.
Your morals vanished at the thought of losing me,
But I finally saw you.
You had lost your dignity.
-Jackie
The cabinet in my living room creaks open at night.
Pages burns and twists turn,
And heroes give up their light.
Seven ounces of rage bleed through my red nailbeds.
Pennies drop on the floor,
And my agony is fated.
I am a drop in the ocean, I am the dust between sand.
My head dreams of castles
And starcrossed lands.
But the candle on the table drips stories yet untold.
I cannot put them down,
Do not give me your gold.
-Jackie
You hang on the wall in the back of my mind like a pretty picture,
And the frame does not burn, so I try to numb myself with green mixtures.
You float over me as I finally crawl into my bed in the morning.
The vapor and smoke remind me of all the love that I am mourning .
-Jackie
Wicked faces search for motives in my distracted head,
But I feed my thoughts to the vacuum cleaner.
The mystery will follow me until I am ice cold and dead,
And they will argue whether I was a people pleaser.
Chants rise over the horizon as I grow even more layers.
They despise these secrets I keep burying alive.
The money rolls in but I do not obey the eager payers.
As long as I provoke them, I will survive.
-Jackie
My phone autoreplies to your messages with “fine”,
But you don’t even notice.
You assume I’m here for your entertainment,
And behind my back you call me a novice.
Your superiority, it crushes my lungs,
But I don’t even flinch, I don’t make a sound.
Treating me like an option must feel thrilling.
You didn’t notice when you dropped me on the ground.
Nothing broke, but it hurt for seven days.
The wind begs me to shatter your pride,
Yet I know my attempts will feed it even more,
Therefore, I make my intentions hide.
My skin twitches when you slide your palm across it,
But you don’t even care.
Turns out I ran away from the hungriest wolf,
Still, I ended up befriending a bear.
-Jackie
I dance on my tiptoes and spin on the roof.
My past mistakes take a seat in a room.
They deliberate, trying to find a reason,
Seeking proof that I committed treason.
I dance in the dark as the gods observe,
And I scream when a blessing hits a nerve.
Perhaps my rage is an unyielding flame,
But my senses are pets ready to get tamed.
-Jackie
The sickness I feel when I see my own reflection haunts me.
Some days I check if the mirror isn’t shattered,
But it seems like even the shards don’t want me.
Devastation is a simple poison –
It only kicks those already on the ground.
Each time I stand up with broken ribs there is nobody around.
Still, I’m no martyr, so hold your pity applause.
The storms keep finding new ways to shake me.
I get no breathing space, no break, no pause.
But the sickness, it sticks with me like a faithful dog,
Not letting me forget the past slip ups,
Not allowing me to know what I did wrong.
-Jackie
The Daily Writing of Jackie Wright 