When the psyche reignites old flames — The Ferris wheel in my mind spins back around to you. Unspoken words, questions never asked, the vulnerability dodged in misguided attempts at self-preservation rush out as the carnival attendant lifts the steel bar that contained us. We meander the vacant fairgrounds of our short-lived, youthful love, passing spun sugar words, winding, adventurous…

Celebrating my individuality during Pride month — At times I see myself as a beige smudge, a blur between places — ambiguous enough to belong everywhere and nowhere all at once. It seems my role is to hang in the balance. But then I remember… I am sun-warmed sand hugging weary feet through tiring journeys. I’m Ceylon…

Finding the way to quiet poignancy — The beeping, the bustling, the buzzing, the noise. Is this city louder or have I become more quiet? Desensitization acquiesces to prickling sensitivity. My skin crawls at clangs and bangs that distract creative thought. Living in the jumbled jungle, metropolitan life exhausts. I have reached an age and stage that begs of…

Losing 37 followers in an hour seems like a glitch — This morning, I lost 37 followers within an hour. I also noticed that I wasn’t following some of the writers I definitely followed recently. What’s going on? I read a story the other day from a writer who was mysteriously no longer following people he had previously followed. …

An acrostic poem commemorating the Indigenous children subjected to Canada’s residential school system — in the years of darkness, they lay restlessly, left covered up and passed over. unjustly, their pasts and futures were buried, muddied by black soil suppressing the stories in their blood. nothing stays hidden and innocent victims don’t lie peacefully. …

Ryerson University is called to change its name in solidarity with Indigenous Canadians — On June 6, 2021, a group of Indigenous activists and allies in Toronto successfully toppled a statue of Egerton Ryerson, beheaded it, and cathartically cast its remains into Lake Ontario. The statue was a monument to a Methodist minister who was influential in establishing the racist, white supremacist Indian residential…

A poem about how sorrow recreates you — Grief draws lines on your face. Softly at first, like a rough tracing of a map — faint enough to be rubbed away, leaving a ghost of an etching. …

A social studies assignment sparks tension between a seventh-grader and her parents — Madison made her way clumsily from the garage towards the kitchen, her arms full of old newspapers, paint, and a dusty dodgeball. “Dad, would it be okay for me to use this stuff for a school project?” …