A girl’s heartbreaks: A short collection

Artwork by Alena Willbur

That black baseball bat
a gift from her father’s death
and stranger’s fist
That girl with the hat

- Hiding from monsters




he hit me
here
and here
and here
but the blood
splattered
every-
where






oh how lovely
would it be
if a man
gave me a dozen red roses
instead of
a dozen bloody scars

- February 9, 2017, three days after

“the deadliest thorn”

When Daddy left,
something ripped in my chest
and a hole
gushing red stained white petals
was all
that was left.

He left a mark on my lips
and it washed off
in the shower

but the mark inside my chest,
well, I had to tear through

my skin
and bones

then dispose of my heart
to get that one off. 

– the mess you (all) made

I went to school
the next day
wanting to forget
that only echoes
occupied the
bedrooms
filled with
the dust
of their lives.

- April 26, 2011

“A Midwinter’s night”

Can you feel it?
the blood
flooding in your
ears
your cheeks
your heart
so heavy
so cold

God please,
don’t let me
freeze.

God please,
don’t let me go.

“The price of milk bones”

I drank
many glasses
of milk
when I was young
because mom told me
it would make my bones strong
and help me grow

I’ve fallen
and scraped
against thorns
and bruised
against dirt
and never broke
a
single
bone

but my heart
took the blows
and tore
my
pure
soul

(what she did not say: immortal bones come with a price)

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

4:30pm: Where are you?

Sorry. be there at 6.

6:00pm:

Coming?

Hello?

?

abandon





I sleep in the rose beds
Even though they
make me bleed.

(Love is beautiful and deadly)

A white blanket
with a teddy bear pattern
held a little girl
who slept next to her father,
who worked all night
to keep her well fed.

An old toaster
warmed her breakfast
before she woke her father
to hold her hand
and walk her to school.

His calloused hand
marked her legs red
when she quit gymnastics

she never failed again.

His calloused hand
marked her mother’s body red
she called for help

he fell
to his knees.

A white blanket
with a teddy bear pattern
held a man
who set a fire,
who cried “I’m so proud of you”
meaning to set her free
but
left her

to bleed.

— That girl was me.

”Band-aid”

Soaked in my blood
hands bandage me
and say
“it will be alright.”

- love