"father.  you always call to say nothing in particular.  you ask what i'm doing or where i am and when the silence stretches like a lifetime between us i scramble to find questions to keep the conversation going.  what i long to say most is.  i understand this world broke you.  it has been so hard on your feet.  i don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me.  sometimes i stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention.  i come from the same aching blood.  from the same bone so desperate for attention i collapse in on myself.  i am your daughter.  i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me.  cause it is the only way i know how to tell you."
-milk & honey by rupi kaur

"His hands grip the wheel, his knuckles white, and I stare at them for a moment, lost in a memory of him teaching me to write, his fingers gently guiding my own.  This is the man who gave me words.  But he didn't listen when I tried to use them."
-Something Real by Heather Demetrois