reasons to stay alive

exactly what it sounds like. one young woman's compilation of good reasons not to kill herself. not always safe for work. not always a safe space - or really ever, i suppose.

statictrees:

Derrick C. Brown - “Instead of Killing Yourself” from his newest book “Strange Light”

www.brownpoetry.com

(Source: caattnip, via wewereemergencies)

2 weeks ago

142,359 notes

(Source: willyoumarrymewatermelon, via wewereemergencies)

1 month ago

5,380 notes

..Fill out all government forms in Español.
Check all the boxes for your race.
Ride your bike to work. Make art in the streets.
Feed people without a license.
Go to city council meetings.
Sit in at the state House and Senate.
Wear a purple boa. Don’t apologize for your presence.
Write love letters to mothers and fathers in prison.
To the wardens, the police officers, the judges.
Write love letters to queer kids and their bullies.
Tell them you are staying here for THEM.
Kiss a Republican on the cheek.
Show them how to love someone you don’t understand.
DO SOMETHING with that tight fist.
That broken heart.
That liberal mouth.
Progress is a series
of small bold moves.
Don’t leave.
Here is where
we need you.

Lauren Zuniga (via acidicsarcasm)

#51 here is where we need you.

(Source: captainstickylove, via wewereemergencies)

2 months ago

9 notes

Reasons to Survive November by Tony Hoagland

November like a train wreck—
as if a locomotive made of cold
had hurtled out of Canada
and crashed into a million trees,
flaming the leaves, setting the woods on fire.

The sky is a thick, cold gauze—
but there’s a soup special at the Waffle House downtown,
and the Jack Parsons show is up at the museum,
full of luminous red barns.

—Or maybe I’ll visit beautiful Donna,
the kickboxing queen from Santa Fe,
and roll around in her foldout bed.

I know there are some people out there
who think I am supposed to end up
in a room by myself

with a gun and a bottle full of hate,
a locked door and my slack mouth open
like a disconnected phone.

But I hate those people back
from the core of my donkey soul
and the hatred makes me strong
and my survival is their failure,

and my happiness would kill them
so I shove joy like a knife
into my own heart over and over

and I force myself toward pleasure,
and I love this November life
where I run like a train
deeper and deeper
into the land of my enemies.

1 year ago

6 notes