Mandy Ricks

Tag: edgy

  • Difficult

    People called her difficult
    without ever knowing what she had survived.

    They saw sharp edges,
    but not the hidden shaking,
    the resentment burning low in her chest.

    She learned to hide it all behind polite smiles
    and half-finished replies.

    There were nights she stayed alive out of nothing but spite.

    Days she moved through ordinary conversations
    while entire sections of her were quietly collapsing behind the walls.

    Still,
    she kept something alive in herself.

    Not hope.
    Not happiness.

    Just a small stubborn refusal
    to become as cold as the people who hurt her.

    And honestly,
    that probably saved her life.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • The last line

    The worst things are rarely the loudest.
    They settle quietly,
    letting the last line sit there like a bruise.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Change

    Change never arrives gently.

    It carves through you slowly
    until one day
    it catches you
    mid-sentence, mid-cigarette, mid-grief—

    and you realize
    the person staring back
    no longer looks easy to destroy.

    —

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Winters

    Cars moved.
    Coffee steamed behind the glass.
    Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly.
    The old man kept walking toward the shop,
    carrying all his winters at once.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Day

    Sometimes the day doesn’t arrive all at once.

    It slips in quietly—through the edge of a curtain, the hum of something ordinary, the pause between thoughts.

    I used to think I had to meet the day with intention, with purpose, with something to prove.

    Now I’m learning to just notice it instead.

    The way light rests on a surface.

    The way a moment passes without asking anything from me.

    Maybe that’s enough.

    Maybe some days aren’t meant to be built or fixed or understood.

    Maybe they’re just meant to be witnessed.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Listening counts

    Some take risks without hesitation, others don’t dare.

    It’s cold enough, my legs ache again. Maybe I just can’t stand it today.

    This morning I sang along to American Pie. That counted for something.

    Dancing in the gym sounds fine to me, though I haven’t decided yet.

    When it’s the end, does it still count if the fat lady took Ozempic and isn’t fat anymore?

    Listening counts. Being heard matters.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • No refunds

    It’s that time of year again —

    when we honour a small enduring light, and a higher guiding one.

    We celebrate our togetherness,

    and pray for our uniqueness.

    We talk of fun times past,

    and drink to forget the hard times now.

    But above all, remember this —

    no matter what the monster says,

    good people are still good,

    and there are no returns on tickets to hell.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Don’t look at me

    “Don’t look at me”,

    she lowered her head.

    Maybe more makeup would cover her shame.

    She barely supposed to walk,

    Her drummer is gone.

    For sure she will wander,

    head down,

    most steps mistrodden,

    until she can accept herself.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Monsters

    I hope today brings you one step closer to where you want to be and one step farther than where the monsters live. -Mandy Ricks

  • The Roar of Ceasefire

    By roar, summer comes screeching in by drone, spewing heat, anger, and destruction. Sent by cowards sitting in judgment. And the people cower, running for shade, drenched in dirt and tears of starvation. How can this be real? Isn’t there supposed to be a ceasefire? Maybe only for those in the white tower.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Today’s News

    Thousands of miles,

    bombs are dropped,

    to threaten retaliation.

    A plane flies,

    A ball of fire,

    families die,

    and lives are destroyed.

    Free speech is tested,

    Democracy loses its lustre.

    A dictator calls himself a President,

    and the people cry.

    -Mandy Ricks

  • Too fierce to mourn

    Scarred hands clutch broken dreams.

    I bled through nights no on dared to scream.

    Ashes crown the ones who burn.

    Each wound a page no chance to turn.

    Still, I rise, too fierce to mourn.

    -Mandy Ricks