salt and stone

Written by Audrey Medrano 7/3/26

Dreams like dust

Feathery soft

Simple thoughts

And darkest smile

Drop the coin

Close your eyes

Teeth come sharp

In the glinting light

Toast and crumbs

From yesterdays

Left and lost

To gather in the rain

Wash them down

Like milk to cool

And soothe the burn

Written by Audrey Medrano 6/27/26

He strokes my head

Tenderly

I scoot closer to him

I whimper when he stops

And he strokes my head again

I turn to look at him then

In silence

But my green eyes

Say all the words that I don’t

I know he loves me

He calls me Coraline

That’s not even my name

But it fits me

In this moment

As he strokes my head

He doesn’t hate me.

He pretends he does.

But he really loves me.

He rubs my tummy now

And I let out a soft purr

Suddenly I bite his hand

He glares at me

Written By: Audrey Medrano 6/26/26

I step forward

One two three

Steps I take

Until I am

Inches from your face

I scrunch my nose

You scrunch yours too

I blink my eyes

Three times in succession

Your blinking

Matches mine

I lean my face forward

Just as you lean yours

We are nearly touching

Our hearts beat

In tandem

And discreet

I pucker my lips

And you pucker yours

I flick my red hair

Over my shoulder

You mimic me

Taunting me with

Your identical flick

We stare at each other then

I know what happens next

But you certainly cannot tell

Because no one should know

That you exist

You are not here

Unless I am standing here

In this room

Gazing into this

Glass upon the wall

Reflection of love

Reflection of sound

But you can’t see

All of me

My footsteps are hidden

Beneath your view

I reach out my hand

And touch the cool

Surface before me

Glinting in this

Sunlight

That shines

In the night

Fingertips touch

This cold glass between us

Suddenly glows

And I feel the warmth

Seeping through

Then I feel your touch

Softly at first

But then hard and cold

Suddenly you grasp my hand

Interlocking your fingers

With mine

You pull me forward

And suddenly

I am on the other side

Of this mirror

I no longer gaze at you

But I peer into the darkness

Written by: Audrey Medrano 6/25/26

I see those eyes

With long dark lashes

Looking frantically

For the hope you locked

In its walls

Loose thoughts

And solid fears

Melting like

The wax candle

Outside your door

What do you see

When you peer into

The nothingness

In the air

I hear the thump

that repeats its rhythm

But it’s not your heart

That is keeping time

It is the echo

Of the distant memory

You shared with me

That one dark December day

When you showed me

The scratches on the floor

Of your bedroom

The scratches from

Her toenails

Written by Audrey Medrano 6/21/26

The weight of the world

I hold in my hand

It is heavy and cold

Like the cold and wet

Marble of the arch

That divides

Her tiny dark eyes

Stare searchingly up at me

From the bed

As though posing the question

But it’s not just one question

It is all the questions

The ones that even I

Don’t know the answers to

What a responsibility

Placed upon

My poor and broken shoulders

But this responsibility

Disguised as a burden

Is really the answer

To those questions she asked me

Long ago

In her searching and haunting

Manner

I see you

I have always seen you

One day

Written by Audrey Medrano 5/3/26

Thick and coated

silence surrounds me

as I blink through

tears and shadows

I draw a circle in the sand

around me

to protect me

from the words and wind

Loosely I hold

these haunting echoes

of promises and dreams

here in my hands

I thought I would be

the one in the spotlight

draped in borrowed trends

heels fierce upon this

runway

of life

I starved myself down

to 85 pounds

but now with nothing

to show

save the lonely

Only for them to choose

another

and now I must return

to my shitty fast food job

with this hunger

By Audrey Medrano, written 4/24/26

I cup my hands

under the flow of water

that spills from the sink

it continues to drip

long after I shut it off

The rhythm of the drip

lulls me

calms me

suddenly I notice something

the dripping has ceased

I get up and walk to the sink

I stare at the tap

still dripping

my eyes widen

I am confused

I see it dripping

but I can no longer hear it

What does it mean?

I turn my head to listen

for the familiar hum

of my fridge

but she too is decidedly silent

I open Spotify

volume set to full

and listen

for the familiar bass

but it shouts at me

in silence

Tears roll down my cheeks

as the realization sinks in

I look back at the sink

and see that it is still

dripping

but the water has thickened

and it is blood dripping

I look down

and I see now

that the tile is stained

crimson

and there is glass

upon the floor

with my footprints

marking

the path I took

How did I get here

where is here?

I hold out my hand

palm upwards

and I count to 10

I then snap my hand shut

into a fist

and suddenly I hear it

and relief floods into me

Written by Audrey Medrano, 4/17/26

The weeds were pulled

a season before

and I am here now

relaxed and yielding

in the garden

planted

from a time

long before

The earth starts here

in my red painted toes

slowly I am becoming

one with this garden

the rhythm slows

as the bass continues

its haunting echo

Suddenly I am separate

yet present

in this same moment

the atmosphere

hovering

and draining me

into a cup

that overflows

I blink and it’s slow

and soft

like the flutter

of the monarch

and I feel the notes

falling

from the sky

free

Lucidity mixes

with this nude ambiguity

and a newness emerges

from the dust and shadows

My name

I have sketched it

into the dirt here

beneath the grass

This garden

is here

in my pores

seeping the

happiness

that belongs

here

in the puddle of tears

I left here

Written by Audrey Medrano, 4/12/26

The scent of her

drew him in

she didn’t sense him

following her

until it was too late

The sweat mingled

with the Dolce

sweet and sticky

as her curls bounced

with the rhythm

of the bass

She didn’t see him

waiting for her

in the shadows

where the bonfire’s light

didn’t quite reach

A chill tingled her spine

she thought

it was the light summer breeze

but her spirit sensed danger

She kissed him on the cheek then

and said she would be back

she wanted her cardigan

She walked to the parking lot

towards the white mustang

the one with the blue stripe

she had saved for two years for it

She opened the door

and pulled out her sky blue cardigan

she pushed the door shut

sweater in hand and walked back

towards the bonfire in the distance

But she didn’t make it back

he moved out of the shadows

and their eyes locked

in the brief instant

before he pounced on her

and stole everything

She smelled it then

- what he did

and laughed because it was ironic

it wasn’t the Dolce

it wasn’t the sweat

that he smelled

it was something deeper

and metallic

the blood

The wolf howled then

and he went straight

for her jugular

The boy she kissed

found her

cardigan still in her hand

stained

written by Audrey Medrano 9/19/2023

My daughter gifted me a painting she did that was inspired from Michelangelo's "Hand of God" painting, and this poem was inspired from her painting.

Written by Audrey Medrano, 6/1/2024

By: Audrey Medrano, written 4/10/26

Hands painted red

held out in front

palms up

facing

the black sun

There is the

drip drip drip

as the red runs

onto the white

carpet

littered with crumpled

papers

These papers had

all her words

but then she destroyed them

when she balled them up

in her hands

But these words

enacted their revenge

when they bit her back

and the crimson

spread through her hands

It was meant for her to control them

but they didn’t allow it

- they hurt her

when she tried to destroy them

She began opening the papers

one by one

and read the words aloud

it was then that the words

became real

and she took their control back

It was the frequency

of the sound waves

that brought those words

to life and ended their

hatred of her

Like the voice of God

when He spoke the world

By Audrey Medrano, written 4/6/26

I found him wandering

in the street

alone and whispering

I wondered why

he was so far

from everything

It was a lonely and barren road

and I had not seen anyone

save one Volkswagen

abandoned its rusted

sky blue body

glinting in the sunlight

that was high above

I caught up to him easily enough

he was only a small boy

I heard him whispering

before he even sensed my approach

I tapped him on the shoulder then

and he stopped walking

but he did not turn to face me

only he stopped whispering then

and for a brief moment

we both stood there in silence

not moving

with his back to me

It was then that I noticed

this was not a boy

this was something different

I couldn’t place how

I knew he wasn’t a boy

but then he turned

and faced me

and I gasped in horror

as he stared back at me

with gaping holes

where his eyes should have been

He opened his mouth then

and a blood curdling scream

emitted from him

in such a high frequency

that I nary could distinguish

if I was hearing it or not

I took three steps backward

and tripped and fell

and in the moment my head

was sure to split open

on the hot asphalt

my head hit

the soft satin pillow upon my bed

I sat up then and blinked

confused as to what had happened

and then I heard it

a whisper next to me

saying…

it’s not a dream

I was startled then

and jerked my head

towards the sound

and a piece of paper fluttered

there in the air and fell upon my bed

I picked it up and saw

a drawing in crayon

of the boy without eyes

Written by Audrey Medrano, 4/5/2026

I lie here in my room

all the lights are on

the TV flickers

i want to sleep

so very desperately

but I can’t

instead I shudder

here beneath the coverlet

I am afraid…

afraid of the dark

afraid of the light

afraid of his shadow

Last time he was here

he cut my soul

deep enough to echo in my mind

his fingers reached in

and turned me to ice

it made me shudder then

His long and bony fingers

reached out from the hollow

where the darkness lives

between the walls

I saw him digging my grave

in the silent dark

wet earth beneath the

shadow of

the Banyan tree

It was there where I had

first met him

I had opened the canyon

inside my soul

and he crept along

in the dark

and followed me home

he asked if he could come in then

and foolish me

I allowed him entrance

into my mind and home

I have searched far and wide

and have tried all the things

the stake

the clove

the crucifix

but all for naught

for he seeks me still

and I lie here

shivering…

in the dark now

By Audrey Medrano, written 4/4/2026

A jar of pebbles sits on my counter

to remind me of memories

that once held a spot in my mind

I painted each memory on a pebble

before placing it in the jar

because I didn’t want to carry them in my mind anymore

I didn’t have space in my head

for these little memories

that make bleeding hearts

and wet eyes

Yesterday I considered

giving you one —

so you could swallow it

and feel the darkness

that was there

in the great empty space

of this barren and dry garden

The birds don’t come here anymore

all the sunshine has gone from here

it’s in the shadow of the moonlight

where I sit

in a crumpled heap upon the grass

searching for a place where I can bury this jar

for I no longer want to look at it

This jar is toxic

and it belongs in the dark and cold earth

By Audrey Medrano, written 4/2/2026

Each time I blink

the glass inside my eyes

makes me bleed

these endless

red streaked tears

I am ready for the moment

that I can just

pluck them out

and put them

on your pillow to rest

My bare legs are soft

and naked

but

I can’t see them

save for the eyes

I set beside you

If only I could rest here awhile

maybe I could one day see

what you see

in this broken

barren world

Dark

and bold

and cold

if only I could be

as bold

then maybe

I would not feel as cold

By Audrey Medrano, written 4/1/26

Yesterday

I had my vision set

it was set on the

feather I held in my hand

it was a treasure that

the little owl left behind

But today

I have my eyes set upon

the box of feathers

it’s not this one I want

it’s the lot of them

they belong together

because how will he survive

without these beautiful feathers

I wonder if I give them back to him

one-by-one

if he will share them with me

does he know that i have secretly

hidden all these ones he left behind

did he leave them for me

did he know I was collecting them

maybe it was just a cruel joke

and these feathers are just paper

paper that he will tear up into little pieces

Why doesn’t he want my pink feathers