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You can begin with one that feels right, or explore without guidance.
Grief, family, tenderness, darkness, the earliest voice, and the poems readers return to most.
Most returned to
If this is your first time here, thank you. These are the poems others have loved, but I never wanted to be like anyone else — I'd love to see you explore on your own.
The champagne ship sailed through the night returning to a home washed over by the waves of the unknown. Unprepared for the inevitable —
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The voice at the beginning
The early poems are rawer, closer to the nerve, and important to meet on their own terms.
One day you'll stand on the ledge of a rooftop Your hometown and the river will spin Around beneath you Stories below
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If you are grieving
These poems stay close to absence, aftermath, and the parts of love that still hurt.
I wish I could have warned you. I know it all seemed like just a game— following those older boys,
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Childhood / family
Parents, houses, childhood ache, and the strange way old rooms keep speaking in the present tense.
The real test will come When you haven't studied, When you're standing naked in the snow, When your legs are tired, and the hill is
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Tender without softness
These poems soothe without going slack. They know how to hold someone without pretending the hurt is gone.
The champagne ship sailed through the night returning to a home washed over by the waves of the unknown. Unprepared for the inevitable —
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Darkest work
Night, ache, refusal, and the pieces that do not brighten themselves for comfort.
The plan and execution— A fool's errand: demanded retribution. A lust for justice that only exists, as a non-concept floating in the
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01 / Where the collection first opened
One day you'll stand on the ledge of a rooftop Your hometown and the river will spin Around beneath you
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02 / The early raw nerve
One day you'll meet a person Who, for no reason at all, doesn't like you On sight.
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03 / The poem readers return to most
The champagne ship sailed through the night returning to a home washed over by the waves of the unknown.
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04 / Another piece with reader gravity
Ribbons unfurl and dance across your field of vision in the sunshine, their curls and shimmers
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05 / For the part of the archive that speaks grief plainly
I wish I could have warned you. I know it all seemed like just a game—
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06 / For the part of the archive that speaks grief plainly
You don't yet know me, but I know exactly who you are. I've made every mistake you've made
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07 / For the rooms, parents, and childhood aftershocks
The real test will come When you haven't studied, When you're standing naked in the snow,
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08 / For the rooms, parents, and childhood aftershocks
You can't grasp what you'd most wish. Tiny dust motes dancing and shimmering
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09 / For the darker edge of the voice
The plan and execution— A fool's errand: demanded retribution. A lust for justice that only exists,
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10 / Where the voice is now
A dark late-spring night back in the Yard all the lights switched off.
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