#iamyouchallenge

I already have everything else.

The reason I am chasing after you

is because your eyes are too simple to see the brilliance that I polished you with that day in the darkness

your ears too dull to hear the waterfall I poured into your mouth

your hands too rough with the world to feel the love that you yourself possess

because I loved you first.

Stop chasing after these mad answers,

and quit trying to understand ME.

What you need to know Ive already told you

what you need to see I paint for you everyday

in the sky

on the grass

under the depths

through the waves of sound you encompass

and everything is evident that I do not wish to conceal.

During these 27 months inside of you

I see you've begun to realize the expanse of my emotions.

Sometimes I cry too.

You notice my rain when your siblings don't and you ask my opinion like a true daughter;

dont think I cant see your motives, though.

I know you want to change, I can feel it

you want to feel, I can help you change

you want to blossom too quickly yet

just be patient.

Everything is under control, just wait.

Your motives are pure and your dreams are mine

but your wish for a lack of time is disgusting.

I will always love you and I will always be here waiting for you to turn your head back towards the sky and smile and cry at the sight of my face.

I will always want you and listen to your thoughts without judging you because I made you, after all, and your mind is the most precious pattern I wove, after your delicate soul.

You think you know better than me. Let me show you why you need me. You daydream of another life, blind to your own blessings.

You eat the pain away, when I can take it away. You crave earthly pleasures, when I can purify your soul. You've envisioned countless ways to die, when I can give you eternal joy.

Studious, you sit in my coffee shop

in the corner

wearing a sexy-in-a-little-bo-peep-way ruffled sweater

I ignore you as I make hand crafted drinks

and Justin Bieber sings Christmas tunes (before Thanksgiving)

"I don't want a girlfriend"

I tell myself

but I notice you writing furiously with your pink Parker pen,

I wonder what you could be writing.

I know you have neat, rounded script

from when you gave me your number

I'll never call it

because you seemed serious

and I don't want to lose you

This is the I Am You challenge finale video, in which I read a piece from both the prose and poetry sub-categories. Forgive my mistakes and lack of editing. Big thanks to burningmuse, jayarrarr, poeticallyprofound and poeticallyundead for both their promotions and various submissions. Here are my favourite pieces, with links to both the writer's blog and their specific submissions. Top Five Prose pieces: 1. moderateclimates - Untitled. 2. pilgrimsoulinme - Her. 3. mylifeinitalics - Rabbit. 4. jayarrarr - My Loving Sister, You. 5. grouchomac - gin clear waters.  Top Five Poetry pieces:  1. warriorfeathers - Just Choking. 2. flawsstitchedwithgoodintentions - As She Would Say. 3. iamthehuntress - Untitled. 4. aprofoundocean - Who Am I? I Am You. 5. starlightandcitystreets - I Know You Too Well. Here is the complete list of people who participated in the challenge, thank you all so much, you made this challenge something special and pushed it far above and beyond my hopes and expectations for it.

observee

hsegol

neverthegreyer

achancesoup

22046021787921

moderateclimates

anotherfuckinggenerationykid

poeticallyundead

shesanargonaut

learnthewaysoflonely

gambollingseaotters

wearyorgasm

iamadarkmatter

unebelletragedie

deathbylesbians

cafeofthedamned

inkedribs

ernlmllr

maybehales

drachmoore

splintersandmilkshakes

stuffonmymind12

clover91

jayarrarr

stickyisaslut

faerytalebeginnings

starlightandcitystreets

poetinside

mylifeinitalics

the-mind-of-rueberry

alphabet-pony

iamthehuntress

sevenreasons

kari-res

wordsaresound

relisez

starcoloredsigh

uncomfortableinmyskin

writeletterstoyou

marredwithink

memyselfandelaine

nostalgicinsighttonewfoundbliss

shadowwalkingfool

lightofsveta

shewantedstorms

viveremori

heartsofink

kiss-my-freckle

amoralfictionalism

doctorheidegger

grouchomac

afterallthis-time

thatboywithfingerstripes

milkling

dontknowwhatimdoing

memoirsofamusician

echo4charlie

mustangkate

aislings-area

novicepen

writtencoffee

pavorst

returnpoint

warriorfeathers

myverymadexistence

aprofoundocean

contemplatinginfinity

midnightvalkyrie

littledaylightmonsters

foreverinouterspace

flawsstitchedwithgoodintentions

pilgrimsoulinme

roxsoxx

lookbehindthebookshelf

edgeofdecember

You. Who are you? I don't know and neither do you, and sadly darlin', that is the fucking point. You're a sham and a lie. A thief, and a cheat and where are you going? I don't know. And neither do you.

You're so busy screaming well-worded, beautifully strung phrases together about how the world can't touch you, but its fingers are tightly coiled about your gorgeous neck. The world will brush its fingers across your cheek and whisper things about censorship and political correctness and you'll comply. Why? Do you know? Yeah, you do.

You rant and you rave about how badly you want it! No, you fucking don't! If you did then you'd have grabbed it and tied it down underneath you; you'd have made it your bitch a long time ago. Now, you're writing this and you hate it. It's not good enough? That is okay. This is just for you.

And while we're here, you're wondering what's wrong with you. Why that first kiss hasn't come and since it's not on schedule, when it will arrive? You want him so badly? Was he ever yours? You write about him and you craft and you cry. He's yours. He should have been yours. It all should have been yours! Yeah, well...

So, start with this:

Write. Write and continue to write for as long as it makes you happy, and goddammit, you know what. When it pisses you off, keep writing. You're so afraid to be vulnerable so you hide behind pretty words and promises that you'll submit a piece the next time around. And you wont. So will you please, for me, go for it this time? You can.

You were there, the girl who was the introvert at family gatherings – finding solace within the pages of a book – instead of planting a plastic smile on your face and talking to your cousins like you knew their business. You were the girl who was the extrovert amongst your group of friends – the life of the party. You were the girl who was unpredictable towards strangers – strangers that would see her as a freak, weirdo, insane, shy, bold, talkative, and nice – impressions varied whether they came to like or loathe you, it was implanted into their minds from the beginning.

You were the girl who took up art and food technology in high school. The one that had work shoved down your throat – without the assistance of actually being taught to how to draw, to paint, to cook, to garnish and to create. (But half of the time you weren’t even listening to the teacher.) You were one of the ‘creative’ girls – yet when friends, family and strangers looked at your work they covered up their disgust, never truly stating their honest opinions. You were the girl who could hear their snickers behind your back but (did a very good job at) pretending not to notice.

You were the girl who made up doubts for yourself even when friends assured you everything would be okay. You were the girl who turned joyful events into depressing situations yet looked optimistically at dire troubles. You were the girl who longed to dance in the rain and drink up the grey of the clouds. You were the girl who seemed carefree and laid-back yet was restrained by the claws of maturity and being a lady.

You were the girl that was tall and skinny – an ideal model or basketball player body – but you hid it under hoodies and jeans. You were the girl who hated dresses, skirts, make-up and watching girls lower their standards to impress a guy. You were the girl who loved girls who could fight back with their fists and had witty retorts at the tip of their sharp tongue.