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    Ashley commented on the post, track 1 year, 3 months ago

    My icy blue veins
    create a track
    for almost-lovers’
    finger tips to
    ski down slowly.

    Slipping, slipping.

    Sometimes,
    they find my fingertips
    or my belt loops
    or my zipper.

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    Ashley wrote about the word crisp 1 year, 4 months ago

    Crisp fall leaves
    drowned in vodka
    and cigarette smoke

    covering my body -
    a cocoon -
    preparing for some kind of
    metamorphosis.

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    Ashley wrote about the word conceal 1 year, 4 months ago

    There’s a law about concealed weaponry -
    guns and knives and whatever.
    But people hid other weapons, too -
    people lie, people don’t show their real feelings,
    people manipulate each other to get what they want.

    And it hurts just the same.

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    Ashley wrote about the word sparkling 1 year, 4 months ago

    Fireworks – they scare me.
    The Fourth of July -
    I always cried when I was a kid.
    And sometimes I still want to.
    When the fireworks pop
    and scream and fizz
    and sparkle
    and are beautiful -
    I can’t take it.
    The noise, the lights -
    they hurt.

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    Ashley wrote about the word thorns 1 year, 4 months ago

    It’s so funny – so, so funny.
    I always came home as a child with thorns in my hair
    and stuck to my clothing
    and in the palm of my finger,
    stinging with every single heart beat.

    All the beautiful things have thorns -
    I’m just especially good at finding them.

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    Ashley wrote about the word trunk 1 year, 4 months ago

    My dad keeps this big trunk of treasures in the attic. I have no idea what’s in it, but I always loved to imagine – pictures of long-lost loves; pictures of grandma when she was just a young girl; boxes of plane tickets; receipts from perfect dates with Mom, and dates-gone-wrong with other women. Someday, [...]

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    Ashley and Profile picture of ChristianChristian are now friends 1 year, 4 months ago

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    Ashley wrote about the word bridge 1 year, 4 months ago

    They said “don’t burn any bridges” -
    but really, I just want to burn
    your fingerprints off my body,
    your sticky, vodka-scented breath
    off of my neck
    and your face out of my dreams.

    Is that too much to ask?

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    Ashley wrote about the word cactus 1 year, 4 months ago

    His fingernails pressed into my back -
    like miniature cacti in the desert -
    that’s where they belongs, right?

    He hurts me,
    and I love him.
    And he hurts me,
    and I still love him.

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    Ashley wrote about the word carved 1 year, 4 months ago

    We carved our initials into trees
    when we were only nine years old.

    But really –
    you permanently carved your initials
    into my heart that day.

    I can still feel them -
    sitting and waiting with each beat of my heart -
    for the day you come back home.

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    Ashley wrote about the word deaf 1 year, 4 months ago

    My grandpa can’t hear out of his left ear because it got blown out in combat, fighting for our freedom. So when I wish him “Merry Christmas” and tell him “I love you and I appreciate you” he usually doesn’t hear it at all. But, I guess, at least I am free and can tell [...]

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    Ashley and Profile picture of Michelle O'ConnorMichelle O’Connor are now friends 1 year, 5 months ago

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    Ashley wrote about the word clamp 1 year, 5 months ago

    He clamps onto my hand tightly
    and suffocates me with his forceful eye contact.

    I don’t know what he expects -
    but I know I must listen
    or else the ever-tightening
    grip on my hand will surely break me
    into pieces.