pay attention, they tell me, pay attention to the things you hear
like the birds singing, or coffee shop chatter, or crying 
and if I pay attention, they tell me, I’ll contain multitudes

multitudes of words drown me like the rising tide and
I can’t keep my head above water so the words are swallowed
and then they lift me buoyantly back to life 

there they go, floating along the waves, the words 
are boats that steer themselves and I just have to 
pay attention as they pass as if writing poetry were that easy

pay attention, they tell me… Read the rest

you look so innocent with your soft blue eyes and kind smile, no one would believe you’d do the things you’ve done to me, but here we are anyway. me here, you somewhere else; we stopped sharing our locations and now i have lost you more. but something inside me still reaches for you, despite your trickery and trampling of my heart, some thin strand of hope for another chance reaches – and so i tamp it down again. and again and again and again.

© Copyright 2026 Cheney Meaghan Giordano

i used to hold on to you
like you were my life raft,
like you were the only thing
keeping me afloat when all
i wanted was to sink

but i couldn’t count on you being there
when things got rough,
i couldn’t trust that in you, i’d find safety
because i never felt safe with you

i thought it was sand that
slipped through the hourglass
but now i feel it’s more like water,
cold and powerful and sacred
until the moment
it pours from your hands

© Copyright 2026 Cheney Meaghan Giordano