By O. Deng, TIWP Student No, I don’t think that was funny.  No, I do not like you. No, I do not want to message you. No, I am not looking for a new person to come into my life and ruin my peace. No, I am not sorry for doing that to you. No, […]

By Karina Ciliegia, TIWP Student write down everythingthat you thinkit’s a matter of time before there’s nothingleft of mei hate to admit itbut how could i forget itafter all the years that have passed byi see your eyesflashing red lightslike a thunderous stormsongs about heartbreak they’realways lovebut sometimes that’s not trueit was impossible to live […]

By Kristen Ho, TIWP Student I am frustrated because I couldn’t kill the kitchen fly this morning.He’d buzz around the kitchen seemingly with no plan,but somehow he’d always escape my flyswatter, no matter how hard I tried. I am frustrated because I keep thinking about my homeworkand I’m struggling to write freely because of it.The […]

By Elisabetta Smith, TIWP Student its a surreal type of painwhen you have to convince yourselfto ignore it you can run into a windowthinking it was just airwhen you don’t know if it’s really a fightor just something else you made up in your headbecause if nobody else noticedthen it must not be therei wish […]

By Elisabetta Smith, TIWP Student in just a minutewatch my empire fall to the groundpick up the pieces turn back around and i don’t know what to sayi guess nothing’s really gainedif you forgot all of the pain again and i guess that i was wrongand all that i have is goneand maybe we can […]

By Giséle Anagnost, TIWP Student I wish that the crumbling ground we walk upon will stay steady no matter how we tread upon it. I wish that we could have strengthened each other in times of darkness instead of tearing each other down. I wish for trust and hope between us. I wish for what we […]

By Laily Berjis, TIWP Student Purple is the ache of
being understood only by yourself,
when the world looks at you
and sees nothing but light,
but inside,you’re lost in a shadow.Purple is the pulse in your chest
when something beautiful ends,
and you know you can’t go back
to the way it was.It’s the ghost of a feeling.Purple is the smell of rain
before […]

By Laily Berjis, TIWP Student If I let my light shine,without dimming it to fit the room, If I stopped folding myselfinto smaller versions of what’s considered safe, questioning my self-worth, what would growin the space I reclaimed? If I stop shrinking my voiceto fit the ease of silence,stop apologizing for wanting more, I would stop arguing with […]

By Laily Berjis, TIWP Student I don’t know what to call it,the space between a sigh and a smile,when someone says “you’re too sensitive,”and you don’t know if it’s a curse or a compliment. It’s like the smell you remember,that brings back a memorybut can’t name,and suddenly you’re there. It’s the color grayA fog that […]

By Laily Berjis, TIWP Student How to keep flowers fresh longer:honey in the water, sprinkle of sugar, ice cubes, crushed aspirin, a copper penny,advice whispered like kitchen secretsas if time could listen. We focus too much to slow them,but they’re already wiltingeven as we admire them. They bloom anyway,not because of us,but because that’s what they […]