Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things

by Amanda Lovelace

she never needed a weapon to be powerful.

to everyone who has a bad day & tries to take it out on me: i send you love & light. i pray your bitterness is replaced with sweetness. i pray that your next day is a much kinder one. i pray you go easier on yourself & those around you. —because that’s what everyone deserves.

everyone loves a strong woman until that woman no longer tolerates their bullshit.

commit to putting out more fires than you start.

experience has taught her that the faith in miracles is more important than the presence of them. after all, that’s often what creates them in the first place.

under the light of the full moon she dances about wildly, hoping an otherworldly being will come whisk her away & take her on a grand adventure. —she’s so done with reality.

write more women who revel in their wickedness.

she’s equal parts glitter & hellfire.

you don’t have to do very much to make her happy. just let her wear your t-shirt & read her fairy tales until she falls asleep.

she agreed to be your girlfriend. she did not agree to be your mother.

bite my neck. show everyone i’m yours.

i have a history of staying in places i’ve long outgrown. you see, i was always told to stay as small as possible— even if it’s uncomfortable, even if it hurts. from this day forward, i vow to let myself bloom freely— even if others see me as an annoyance, even if they see me as a weed. —wild violet.

when he placed his seeds on her tongue, she felt like she had to say “yes” because she was terrified of what would happen if she said “no.” —pomegranate.

i’ve learned that not everyone is worthy of a redemption arc.

there are days when she wants so badly to escape her life for something simple & carefree— to wake up in a cramped cottage with a tangled & overgrown garden where she can get drunk on tea among butterflies & faeries. oh, what a dream that would be. she would never have to see anyone again. —magic still has to exist somewhere, right?

as much as i sometimes feel like breaking, i have never been broken. if i have survived every bad thing that’s ever happened to me, then doesn’t that mean that i will keep on surviving them?

go on & reign over the very flames that were meant to be your end. wear them as a crown.”