a smiling face hides so much a pixelated circle cropped from a square but once the sadness starts trending that’s when people start to care “for you” “trending” “news” don’t forget the hashtags tacked on there because that’s only when they’ll speak up otherwise, they wouldn’t dare hotlines and websites fill the timeline promises of hope and prayer but in their real life they’re none the wiser to their loved one filled with despair — cc, 2019

i ask her, “mother nature, why do you weep?” wordlessly, she looks around at everything in her creation and suddenly, and sorrowfully, i understand. — cc, 2018

it’s behind you — you feel it’s presence lurking. looming. lingering. it never leaves you — you can’t escape it perusing. persistent. permanent. some days, it’s at a distance others, it’s right behind you you can feel it’s breath on the back if your neck closer. closer. closer. the monsters never rest — you’re being haunted (hunted) — cc, 2018