Brie Danielle

“Trouble is, I love better at a distance...”
― Ashe Vernon

“When he says he doesn’t love you anymore, roll your shoulders back and look him in the eye even when it feels like your ribs are breaking inward; like spider legs.

When he digs up old aches that he swore he forgave you for, smile and ask him why he didn’t leave you sooner.

Ignore the way the words feel like sandpaper running all the way up your throat to your mouth.

When he blames you for mistakes that wear his face, do not scream.

Do not cry.

Tell him that there are boys who would be proud to say they’d love you.

Tell him that in two years you won’t even remember his name and don’t let him see the way you can taste your own lie.

When he leaves, ignore the howling in your blood and do not get up after him. Not even to lock the door.

Do not, do not, DO NOT. Smell his shirts when you box them up to give them back. Not one.

Swear off dating when you realize you’re chasing ghosts that wear his smile.

It’s okay to cry over him. It’s even okay to forgive him. But do not go back to him if he did not know how to love you the first time. He won’t know how to do it the next.”
― Ashe Vernon

“To whoever loves me next,

I’m sorry if I’m afraid of you
or if days of flirting turn to
radio silence, without warning.

I’m sorry if I make you say the words
over and over and over until I believe them.
(I’m sorry if I don’t believe them.)

I will probably spend more time
worrying about losing you than I spend
trying to keep you.
Trouble is,
every single time I’ve ever thought
something was too good to be true–
I’ve been right.

Understand,
I will know how to be vulnerable with you,
but I won’t know how not to regret it.
And I have no idea how deep we’ll be
into this relationship before I admit
I’ve never done this before.
Not really.
Not in any way that counts.

Before I admit that I know
how to put my body inside someone else’s
but not how to make it beautiful.

I probably won’t be easy to love.
Too many people loved me badly,
I’m not sure I know how
to do it right.”
― Ashe Vernon

“don’t you dare, for one minute,
believe that my kindness makes me
anything but insurmountable.
i did not unzip my chest to every kind of hurt,
and stagger back, wounded and alive,
just to hear you call me weak for trying.
i opened my door to heartache—
i gave her the fucking key.
my softness for wayward strangers
has made me nothing less
than a halfway house for aching soles.
so when you open your mouth
and call me ‘baby’
understand that i am not your next victim
in a laundry list of broken girls.
you think i don’t know you? people like you?
people with mouths for hands.
i’ve got skin like topsoil
and your teeth could never take root.
so when you go looking to make a plaything
of a sunburst,
you better look for someone with less fire
than me.
because softness or no,
i will eat you alive
before i let you make a meal of me.”
― Ashe Vernon