I am every mistake that I have ever made.
Every dark thought that has ever crossed my mind. I am
Starless nights in bed,
The all-consuming kind.
Never called the boy from the roller rink.
I am the earliest form of torture you could find.
And I’m sorry that I cannot say the L-word.
I am sorry about the thumbtacks in your spine. I am
Sure you can tell that they are
Building mine.
Never told you, but you should leave me here.
I am the whisper, hunger, ballad of the pine.
I am not the girl you see in magazines.
Still I organize my food in single lines. I keep
Hoping to shrink into nothing
But breath and time.
Never apologized for my broken brain.
I almost killed my best friend at a stop sign.
I am nothing but a mass of wasted space.
Yet I am every shift in windless cloudless sky. I am
Every song that has
Ever made me cry.
And I am a Chinese staircase of regret and ink.
But I am everything and nothing I can hide.

Phoebe Lyons was the only Girl Scout in her troop that didn’t know how to braid. She likes her squeaky bike and her dented guitar, but likes to write most of all.

Martina K. is a young photographer whose works can be found on Flickr and her website, MartinaKPhotography.com.