There Is Room for All of You Here

by Michaela Angemeer

i keep confusing feeling understood with someone understanding how to manipulate me

thinking i had to try to get them to love me when i could’ve just been gay instead

do we accept the love we think we deserve or do we accept the love we were taught we deserved

when you spend your whole life doing things you don’t want to do it’s hard to stop

teach yourself how you want to be loved, and how deserving you are of it.

is it self-sabotage if it's in my dna women hiding for generations all i hear is hundred-year-old echoes of it's not safe to be yourself

i hope you know that being open to love again after giving up on it is one of the greatest acts of bravery. even though you’re terrified, you are so courageous. i know vulnerability feels like prying your chest open with scarred palms, but what if it’s worth it? what if you find someone just as soft as you. what if you find someone who knows you don’t deserve to be discarded. what if being seen becomes effortless. what if feeling doesn’t have to hurt. what if they make everything you’ve been through worth it. what if they teach you how to love again.

when it was cloudy for six days straight you were the sun

i wonder if i’m the first person you called sunshine or kissed three times is this new to you too or is this what olivia was referring to when she wrote deja vu

look at how you’ve grown even without the sun

i’m petrified cause i’ve never been this happy

the inner child in me sees the inner child in you