fade to light

hello!

first off, i’m incredibly glad you liked it - i must admit i felt a little uncomfortable sharing writing that was so personal, but this message makes me happy i did. second of all, i totally understand about donating. if you’d like to help in another way, i would be immensely grateful for a review on goodreads (or if you’re unable, a reblog on the post would be lovely).

thank you for your kind words! and feel free to tag me in anything you create :)

LOVE LETTERS TO GHOSTS: a collection of eight poems for someone who will never write back.

Sorry for all the things I said when I thought you weren’t listening. Sorry for all the things I didn’t say when you were.

These poems are available for free download or pay-what-you’re-able—I greatly appreciate any and all donations. This is my most personal work, so I would love if you would take a moment to signal boost this post and rate/review on Goodreads. Thank you all for your endless support.

cross my heart: 2 girls, 13 pieces, 7000+ words | by arlen c.

a collection of poetry, prose fragments, and text messages chronicling the relationship between two best friends over one year. a study in childhood promises, dreams, distance, and the unforgettable ache of first love.

the light paling to all truth: i miss the end of dreams and ink-smudged maps with fragile, brittle bones and i will go traveling alive, still worth saving.

today i’m going traveling to dig up the sound of forever, you were always full of dreams, always running into the horizon just for a moment. the sound on the coffee table, a shrine to all the ends. for a moment, the light goes out of the girl, the girl in my head. we’ll hold hands and run. one of them was too busy crying into the wildflowers.

one year ago i buried two fragile children, a shrine to all things true: i miss you. you were always so much. she and i will be the ghosts in my head. i spend hours listening to light paling to drown our maps that litter your skin. i was with you a moment. the light breaks around our edges and holds her haloes and ink-smudged maps with roads that litter your body with the places we’ve been. it becomes warm again, and ideas run into the horizon. kiss her hands and run into the weight of our skin. i was with you, too.

today i’m going with the weight of it, traveling with the youthfulness of sorrow. i tell myself when i was with you, you were always full of sorrow. i tell myself that’s not all the girl lost in the wildflowers will be, you’re a ghost in my head anyway, i liked that. we’ll hold hands until we become what we’ve been and we blur into afternoons spent on the wildflowers with you. i miss the coffee table, a shrine to all things true: i miss myself that. we’ll hold hands, just until forever lifts.

one year ago i was buried fallen and never lifted.

one year ago i buried two children with their eyes open. eventually the girl lost in my tongue never will be again, and i'm washing the places we’ve been and i will be a ghost with a mouthful of sorrow. i think about how you were always more, and those decaying wings and the horizon until the evening leaves me with roads: that’s because i’m missing you, missing all the places we’ve been and never will be. a ghost in the girl in the couch sifting the youth right out of it. and we run into the end of forever, you were always full of dreams and i'm washing your favorite songs to drown out how you were, always. she and ideas and ideas and decaying wings, the girl and the thought of them were still worth saving.

thank you for this message, and i’m glad you enjoy my writing!

i began writing mostly (bad) poetry and (worse) microfiction just by opening docs, writing whatever i felt like, and never editing them again. years later, my process is mostly the same, although i will say i spend a bit more time editing pieces to which i feel more of an emotional connection. what helped me write poetry was reading it in large quantities. from shakespeare to sylvia plath, i read all types of poems and grew my own style from there.

i know what you mean - i’ve been going through writer’s block recently, and the best advice i have is if you can’t write, at least read. oftentimes, i’ll stumble across a poem that inspires me to write again. i’d recommend checking out richard siken’s crush if you haven’t already - his writing so expertly explores love and violence and how the two intertwine, you can’t help but be inspired.

i’m sorry i couldn’t be of more help (if i knew how to get out of a writing slump, i wouldn’t have spent the last month staring at blank documents), but best of luck to you on your writing journey.

a girl is an abyss a knife still wet with murder no angels left in her don’t you accept that bloodied hand.

hello! not sure which book you mean, so i’ll answer both:

unmythologize: has already been published. you can find it as an ebook here. there is no printed version.

fade to light: set to be published in summer 2017. there will most likely be both a printed and ebook version. if you haven’t already filled it out, please check out the interest form! if you have, i’ll use the info you provide to contact you with more details once the publication date is closer.

dream the bodies warm again. no one could forget that they have to end somewhere we kissed to pieces. look we will ruin us.