Poems for the Signs

by Michaela Angemeer

i don’t wanna be with anybody who weaponizes my vulnerability saves it in a wooden box loads it in a shotgun when i least expect it

there’s no point in watering something that doesn’t want to grow

my inner child thanks me every day for keeping us safe. for taking us out of a situation where we felt scared and helpless. and for becoming the parent we never had.

i can’t name all the people i’ve been since i was a kid

she told me to be less serious but i cried instead and mourned the girl she never got to be

my loneliness is a coping mechanism protection from rejection

you can’t practice vulnerability on someone who’s never felt their feelings

sometimes the best thing you can do for the people you love is take care of yourself

i grew up with conditional love and frozen food no wonder nourishment feels abnormal

i’m scared of what happens when i get sick of the day to day and i just want the journey to end

it’s not that i don’t want to live it’s that i don’t want to live right now i want to see the next part so i know this part is worth it

i will be the last woman in my family to be used as a pin cushion a mirror a reflection of a man’s wounds