go on, burn a while

Movies and books also don't tell you that friendships don't just end after one fight or incident, it's like the rusting of a bridge, the slow decay of flesh and bones and secrets. It took weeks, months- until one day I woke up and I realized I hadn't thought of her in a while. And I wrote a poem that day and I titled it 'The dying of a best friend' and I put all my love for her in a tiny box with my half of the matching pendant of a dolphin we had and stored them in a corner of my heart under the heading Grief. Where else can one hide unspent love?

It's been 3 years since I lost my best friend, lost as in I still carry our secrets in a tiny box but we only text each other on our birthdays.

-Ritika Jyala, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire

“She agreed to love herself deeply.She was finally the sun of her own life.”

They want me to never complain about my work. Work is boring, better pretend you don’t have a job. Doesn’t matter how you finance all the trips, weekend getaways, restaurant dates. Your only job is to wait for him.

They don’t like it when you ask them to wear a condom or get tested for STIs. That’s not cool, that’s too dark. Take the pill, don’t talk about the adverse reactions, the bloating, the depression, the anxiety, the acne, the mood swings, the fatigue. Don’t talk about the Pap smears, the gyno appointments, the yeast infections, the medical bills. That’s boring. 

Don’t talk about hair removal, the folliculitis, the razor burn. That’s not feminine. 

Praise him for being nice, but don’t mention it when he doesn’t call you for days on end because “he is busy at work”. Don’t nag.

Don’t talk too much, don’t be boring.