when you’re with

somebody who isn’t

afraid of what you’ll

become once you

bloom.

i have this theory about atoms and soul mates.

i think when you’re drawn to somebody, it’s because at one time, your atoms made up the same thing, be it a tree, or a dinosaur, or another person—your atoms and their atoms were interwoven together.

so as matter is reformed and recreated throughout time, your atoms are continuously pulled towards their atoms. sometimes they come together to form another flower or animal, and sometimes they bring two people together like magnets.

there’s a pull between us that i don’t think can be explained otherwise.

something about us is so purely scientific, so perfectly chemical.

the bond between us could be a chemist’s wet dream.

word of advice #6:

the right love

can take its time

to arrive

to take root

and grow

you will

dig up

so many

loves that looked

pretty from afar

but once

you got closer

you saw

that they were rotting

from the inside out

but one day

you will find

the right love

for you

one day

what looks beautiful

from far away

will be just as beautiful

when it is held

in your own

two hands

when you find

someone who

does not make you

so afraid of the future

try your hardest

to not let

them go

i find hope

in the smallest of things:

in cracked sidewalks

and parted branches.

the bubbles in latte foam

and the lace of a dress.

i search for it

in between the cracks

and the pits

and the breaks,

always.

that is where

it is often hiding,

not usually found.

i am obsessed with the marks i leave on people,

just as i am obsessed with the marks people leave on me.

this has never made much sense to you, i know.

you don’t understand why i care what he thinks of me,

but it’s my mark. whatever he is saying, that is my mark,

and i care about what that looks like.

i am a writer and i once wrote that i cling.

i cling to bad memories like old stuffed animals

but i am still very much here with you.

i write about heartbreaks that haven’t hurt me in years

as easily as i write about the one that still does,

and it is because i know how to cling.

they left their mark.

i am sentimental to a fault,

but do not think it is because i don’t love you.

i look back on my past and admire it

because it has brought me to you.

i pay it tribute in my poems

because look who it has given me.

the love i feel every day.

to hold someone without

being afraid they’ll slip away.

your mark.

—marks

things that remind me of you #6

rose quartz / tinder miracles / a lock hanging on a bridge in salzburg / the feeling of knowing somebody better than you know yourself / local coffee shops / sleepless nights / unfailing devotion to your art / having a plan / trying new things /