plagiarized // jezel carmon

how would you feel if I claimed what wasn’t mine? and then wear the mask that grins and lies (WeWearthe Mask–PaulLaurenceDunbar) if my thoughts are too dry to form my own, will I be reprimanded for what I stole? if I do this too well, you may instantly believe because it’s not easy to know what is true for you or me ( emeforEnglishB–LangstonHughes) you won’t be able to tell what came from others and the ease of it all will allow me to not su er no one could stop me anyway, it’s all in good fun what’s out is out, what’s done can’t be undone (Macbeth–WilliamShakespeare) and is it really wrong when it turns out so smooth? even if you see it and claim not to be a fool you’re too oblivious to see what’s true is there a problem, does my sassiness o end you? (StillI Rise–MayaAngelou) in the end this will still be submitted and in the end, I’ll still be acquitted if you couldn’t tell what was mine, that means I will succeed and argument is pointless, there is no need (Home–Rupi Kaur) so, thank you for reading, this was all too great but I do apologize, you completely took the bait when we try to t between the lines it may become apparent that it’s hard to nd, a place that perfectly situates all we are without the hate. if the boxes are breached, then opportunities fall out of reach and everything that is sought can only be obtained through methods that are bought. how are we meant to discern from what is yearned and the reality we have amassed to keep us from being outcast. and you may not actively discriminate, but the features you seek are not ones with which we commonly associate. so, we try to nd a way to change, to t your gaze of what seems great. but since i can’t change how i was born, i will continue to mourn, mourn the boundaries that i will never t into and resolve to think that i can x it for you. but it is still too few and far between always an outlier and never the mean. the di erences so prominent that they can’t be ignored and then we change them to reap the reward. the world would be rounder if we le it alone. and our skin would be perfect without attention to tone. but seeing is believing, and perception is reality. so, choosing to be blind is not the answer but acknowledging what fall shorts might show grandeur.

Death has many names

Some are mean

Some are kind Call it Mercy

A time away from the ever-repeating cycle that is Life

Truly, Death is a Mercy ere isn’t much of a di erence between freefall and ight

Is it a freefall into an eternal abyss?

Is Death a one-way ticket to a place without light?

Or is it a break from feeling you try to forget?

Sometimes I call it Pain.

A way to escape from a reality I never asked to take part in

A way to escape the spiral

When Life is nothing but numbness

Pain is a merciful feeling

In over my head

No one ever taught me to swim

And I’m too scared to ask for a lifeline

If drowning lls my lungs with water

Life lls them with Regret

What do you call Death?

hands open, palms exposed

“What matters isn’t the fact that they’re gone, what matters violence are going to rip at hands, exposing palms to the ese bad moments are going to happen, and I need to let like butter ies on a whim to the nearest ower, but from how much I want that butter y to stay I must keep my hands war against my mind to pull the hope close, to hold it dear feelings, for if I decide to close my hands I might crush that and I will follow, collapsing to earth like and un nished symphony nishing this one. Finishing the hope I crushed. No, I need to ght for that light inside of me to keep my palms extended towards the sky just in case the world forgot it had bent on protecting the idea of something temporary, keep take from me, take from me, take all I have, so that maybe something le to o er. Although you took them too, the others silent hill I stand upon.

I am not blind, you are not heartless, you take like the ocean You take from my hand so that you may give, I give so that the planet and as closely as a hug to a child. I give my life Palms hung in the space of eons, stamped with the mark is de ned by how much you give, only cracks may remain, that you need. don’t worry about me. I have more.”