“

Unaided by footnotes or explanatory citations, the words stand for themselves — raw, vulnerable, and silently screaming a testament to their meaning.

“

I just want to be with me.

“

You will want to yell in a world that tells you to whisper.

“

I’m sorry that I can’t say it to your face, but I had to write it somehow.

“

My story isn’t over yet.  

“

And that’s what we were. Two self-destructive souls with hearts of gold.

“

Maybe we’ll get a spider plant. Or a fern. Or a rhododendron.

“

Now here we are, 29, single and forced together as we stand by the sides of our friends on their wedding day.

“

The sun has shifted now, and the dappled shadows of the leaves reach my knees. 

“

By now, Zumper will have asked me if I’m a robot because I’m speeding through listings at a suspect rate. I sure do feel like a robot, I want to say.