Hearts and the color red

People paint on smiles 

Thick 

And red

Red

Like the blood 

We all still bleed

And the cartoon hearts we have all seen

And maybe it's because you think 

It shows you're human 

But blood isn't thick

And hearts were probably never even red anyways

Because I remember seeing one

 in a video in 5th grade

And I think it was really just a fleshy color

But I was a little too freaked out 

to pick up specifics 

But maybe that's all we are

 fleshy colored people

 inside and out

With a lot of red liquid that keeps our fragile little hearts beating

But we all still pretend our hearts are red Because red is strong 

And red is fearless

Because red gets things done

Because red is beautiful 

So we say our hearts are red

And we paint on red smiles

So people know

That we are strong 

Inside and out

But we are really pink

Not a cute pink 

A fleshy pale almost yellow pink

And I doubt we have ever been another color

But don't fear

Because we all still bleed red 

We all still bleed

Red

And just because our hearts aren't red 

Doesn't mean 

we don't have strength

 and courage

And love 

 flowing through our veins 

Because we do

And even though we are all 

just a little more human 

than we want to be

We can still be strong 

Weeds or wild flowers

We were wild flowers on the roadside

We were sunburnt 

And thirsty

I was lost mistakes 

And new dreams

I was a few goodbyes 

And fewer hellos 

I was the ghost of my school

And the clown of our house

Because painting on smiles

Became my new hobby

9th grade might as well have been a play

Because none of it felt real

Surrounded by pedigree plants

I pretended I was just one of them

But I've learned 

That pedigree plants 

don't grow on their own 

And I never wanted 

To be one of them

And painting roses red

Never changed what they were

Or what they could be

But leaving them that way

That's where it gets dangerous

So I chipped away the paint 

piece by piece  

And when I was done 

I met some people 

Who saw me as the wild flower I was

Not just a weed

Because maybe

That's how I felt.

Word painting (trying something different)

A girl leaves foot prints of red 

but Her feet are not bleeding

Because the world can't hurt Her

But her connection to the earth 

has been severed

And her soul is bleeding 

Out of the soles of her feet

She feels lost 

because she appears to be surrounded

by a maze of red footprints 

where she has already walked In circles 

again 

and again 

and again

The trees are brown 

The leaves are green

The earth is white

And the people are grey

They leave no footprints

But whatever color she had 

left When her soul started to bleed out

And even though she suspects she is lost

And knows she won't be found

Something keeps her feet moving

And something 

stops her soul from healing

But something keeps her blood flowing

And she suspects it is her heart

one day she found a new set of footprints

They were blue

And they were cold

But they were there

She followed them to the boy 

with a broken heart

And patched up his heart 

before he bled out

And even though their footprints 

never stopped

And the world seemed just as white
and just as full of grey people

And they still had no idea where their
feet were trying to take them

They knew they would make it there together