Safeword

By Ashleigh Lynne

Tear stained prose

Carved from starlight

Etched into my retinas

(Their) ghost behind my eyelids
(I) don’t know for whom they’re written
But they met paper by my (own) hand

I memorized the shape of sadness

Took the second left on the way to Hell

These thoughts these feelings
Only (half) mine to expell

What do you do when there’s no one left to blame
When the only feelings left all circle back to shame
What good’s a safeword when you hold the reins?

About the author
Ashleigh, 39, is an appreciator of all things involving sincerity and creativity.