Brianna Richard

I lack morals, ethics, and respect they say.
I’ll never amount to anything.
I screwed up my life and never thought
Of the impending future.
...

Never have I
Stopped to settle my quickening
Heart from running.
...

You were sought out of boredom.
Though everything I was going through that night, I gave you my soul.
I opened up like the brilliant sun of a cool dawn and left you basking
In the hues of orange, red, and yellow that were my words.
...

Grandpa smiles and grandpa tells
Me stories of how it was.
I listen while his wrinkled hands
Gently caress mine.
...

The tears meander in and out as
Though they are a great river of relief-
An only outlet to
The rains of pain and the
...

He’s stuck in winter by the woods
And I am stuck in spring.
He’s lost but content to be away
In the darkness, of death it seems,
...

Float me off
Into a world unknown
A place where I can be beautiful
...

I can make your tiny heartbeat audible to the world
And for the first time, your mother can see your tiny body dancing,
Turning, sucking.
I am thanked many times over for the miracle I have just performed and
...

Running, walking, bleeding all over-
I dance and turn and float.
Lifted by a superior force,
I am alive only when provoked.
...

Cooing quietly when grandpa’s around,
Running naked like a mad little clown.
Falling in love
And marriage to boot.
...

There is this idea, a secret, that we can be whoever
We would like.
Strive, focus, study- that’s all it takes.
I say, it’s all a lie.
...