little girl

I’d like to thank the little girl with the violet eyes.

I’d like to thank you for all that you’ve done for me so far, and will hopefully continue to do.

I’d like to thank you for all the help you’ve given me, and for the borrowed courage.

This is my way of thanking you, little girl with the violet eyes.

No one notices her until she’s long past gone, when her work with you is done.

She’s the one who stands behind the curtain, and pushes you out, out onto the stage.

She’s the one who hands you the rocks on the beach, the ones you throw into the ocean because you’re angry at first, but soon you’ve forgotten why, and you just throw them to throw them.

She’s the one who lends you courage to use for a while.

She’s the one who pulls you off the sinking ship onto a floating log, and guides you to shore.

She’s the one whose shoulder you can cry on, when luck doesn’t go your way.

She’s the one who holds your hand, and teaches you to fly.

She’s the one, that little girl with the violet eyes, who teaches you to become who you are.

She may not have a body, but for right now, she’s the little girl with the violet eyes.

She may not be able to hand you the rocks on the beach in person, it may be a sibling or a stranger. Read more »

This little girl inside

 All she can do is hide

 Black tears flow from hollowed eyes

 This little girl inside.

 She has a voice

 But dares not cry

Fears pain and trauma

She's dying inside.

This little girl

She builds up walls for her to hide Read more »

What a beautiful hurricane, Sita thought.

All feathers and soft brown curvature 

whirling in paint-brush perfect points of muteness.

The abandoned building across the street had windows that reminded her of vacant eyes. (Amma's eyes, but she didn't want to think about that.)

But the sparrows-- they rolled and flitted and played on the windowsills and the roof. Their presence felt like hope. 

She folded her arms on the wall, and her ochre lips parted delicately. Read more »

Prologue
When Alexandrina Celeste Smith was seven, she didn’t believe in monsters. She didn’t believe in monsters or magic or anything out of the ordinary. She was a calm, rational seven-year-old girl. Which is as rare as it sounds.
When Alexandrina Celeste Smith was seven years old, everything changed. Everything got turned on its head.

Ally lay in bed, suddenly wide awake.
There had been a noise in her bedroom. It had woken her up. She looked at the window. It was open.
“I’m not scared,” she said aloud, defiantly.
“That’s not smart.” Read more »

Prologue
When Alexandrina Celeste Smith was seven, she didn’t believe in monsters. She didn’t believe in monsters or magic or anything out of the ordinary. She was a calm, rational seven-year-old girl. Which is as rare as it sounds.
When Alexandrina Celeste Smith was seven years old, everything changed. Everything got turned on its head.

Ally lay in bed, suddenly wide awake.
There had been a noise in her bedroom. It had woken her up. She looked at the window. It was open.
“I’m not scared,” she said aloud, defiantly.
“That’s not smart.” Read more »

This is one of the worst days ever, Ally thought grumpily.
First she’d been called an idiot by Hill and Ms. Blair. Hill was not unusual, but it was annoying to have a woman she didn’t even know imply she was a moron. Then she’d had to turn down one of the interns, Geoff, again. The boy couldn’t take a hint. Then she had to stay in late. Without pay. Finally, to round it all off, she’d missed the bus and was walking home. In the dark. In New York City.
Under her breath, Ally cursed Jackson Hill, Ms. Blair, bus companies, and New York City. Read more »

There's just a little girl
running across the grass.
Mud on her feet,
and popsicle stains on her dress.
She has no cares
and doesn't think about
anything else.
She just runs,
for the joy of running.
She gets muddy,
without thinking what she looks like.
She has popsicle stains,
and doesn't worry about it.

She runs
to her mommy's arms,
and gets scooped up
to the sky.
Then she runs
to her daddy,
and gives him a big hug.
She is such a little girl.
Running around in her
little dresses,
and tiny shoes.
And no one even thinks
about the fact
that one day,
she's going to grow up.

She sits upon the pink tiled floor,
As golden light streams in through the high-up windows
She stretches out, enjoying the comforting heat
As rainbows of light shatter off the crystal chandelier
Casting beams of purple sun
On the smiling, yellow walls

The little girl, sitting in her little paradise
Is wearing a dainty pink gown, made in China
With a little, sparkling silver tiara in her curly blond hair
It catches the light, illuminating her happy smile
As her little fingers play with the multicolored necklaces she wears
Her face is a rainbow of innocent hope
As she gazes at the plastic castle

The plastic castle sits in the center of the dazzling light,
As if it had just emerged from the sky on a beam of sun
Its glowing layers, lit in the smiling sunlight, seem to draw you in
And the towers are candles on a birthday cake
A tiny island of genuine hope,
It fills the little girl's grinning blue eyes
As she plays in that sunlit fairytale Read more »

And the purple moon
Shone through the leaves
Of the strawberry trees

In her dream,
Spun with golden thread,
The silver skies smiled
On the little girl
As she wandered through the fairytale
Looking for her glass slippers,
Or maybe they were ruby
She wasn't really sure
And the little gray cat grinned at her
“We're all mad here,”
It whispered, smiling

And the purple moon
Shone through the leaves
Of the strawberry trees

And she fell up a rabbit hole
Through the icy clouds
As someone sang softly in the background,
“Somewhere over the rainbow...”
It seemed she left the wicked witch behind
Or perhaps she really did melt her
But whatever happened,
The little girl wandered freely
Through the enchanted wood
Searching, searching
For her glass shoes
Or maybe they were ruby
But only finding
Seven little dwarves,
Dancing in the moonlight
Around a ring of mushrooms
Singing,
“Rumpelstiltskin is his name!”

And the purple moon Read more »