tales of conquering.

"conquer the angry man by love"
your mother tells you
"it keeps you safe"
(but she doesn't tell you it doesn't last long)

and when you are standing in that room together,
you remember how you used to hope
you tell him
"this doesn't feel romantic"
but he smiles and shushes you,
ignoring your pleas to wait
he holds a finger to your lips
and peels away your old skin

but still you know he doesn't know you
everything he heard from you,
was only ever one of you
he looked, and he listened
(or so you thought)
and he was the farthest from you,
even then,
when you were wrapped in his bones

when you told him this, he didn't say a word but wrapped you even more until you couldn't breathe because he'd hid you away and he couldn't hear you when you screamed and he'd never even asked you if you wanted this and your bones didn't know so how could you and you couldn't breathe and he couldn't hear you because he didn't want to and because your mother had never told you that it doesn't last long when you conquer the angry man by love.

a little big planet story.

sackboy loved challenges. he loved the thrill and the danger of escaping rogue cardboard queens, meerkats, and ghosts. he loved his narrow escapes over cliffs and crocodile mouths. he lived for his planet.

sackboy loved the stickers, decorations, and new costumes he got when he beat the challenges almost as much what he went through to get them.

but sackboy knew, he knew he was always alone at the end of every level. and he was saddened because there were always prizes he couldn't get. they were all hidden under rocks and behind walls that needed two sackpeople to get inside. and because sackboy knew this, he grew more and more unhappy with little big planet. sackboy was lonely.

with 94% of each level finished, he needed someone who could help him complete them. but who?

one day, over wireless hi-fi, sackboy found sackgirl.

sackgirl could squeeze into corners he couldn't. sackgirl could hold down levers and pull down walls he couldn't reach. sackgirl could swing on pullees for hours if he needed her to. and if he lost a life, there was always someone there to pick it up again.

sackboy was finally happy with sackgirl. with her, he had not only found someone who could help him complete the levels, but someone who could complete HIM. little big planet was good again.

time to invest.

she wondered why the wind would
never change.
i wondered why the world doesn't grow up when we do.
i wondered what would become of him,
once his world dies.
whether he would dry up like the leaves
or if he would turn to dust
and simply blow away.

it weighs too much,
carrying it all yourself.
she'll never remember why it goes too
quickly.

i've already forgotten myself.