maelynslavik

The piano 

Twirling through the air, 

The lyrics I hummed to 

With my grandma, my aunt, 

My mom, 

Sitting at the kitchen table,

The Beauty and the Beast soundtrack

Humming through an earbud,

My mom streaking the stars

Across my fingernails,

Her hands are cupped around

A rose,

Perfectly red petals

Curling to the center,

Where she has stored her heart;

Hate

Is ignorance:

It’s when eyes

Skim past the story of scars,

Focusing rather on the fact

They’re there;

They let the jagged curves

Let me float

In a sea of poetry,

Words weaving my hair,

Verses like seawater

Trickling into my heart

And lapping against the shores

Rain was sparkling, shimmering all around Grayson.  He’d left his earbuds, his phone, resting atop the worn cushions of his favorite writing loveseat, where he’d always curl up his legs and hug his leather-bound notebook to his ches