
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

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

Broke my chains with trembling hands.
Built a kingdom from shifting sands.
No hero came – I wore the crown.
Found my fire when the world burned down.
I am my own salvation now.
Mandy Ricks

I walked through fire, let it sting,
felt the loss of everything.
Ghosts still whisper, scratch my skin,
but I won’t let them pull me in.
Blade of doubt against my throat,
I wear the scars, but still I float.
No savior comes, no hand to hold,
just me—alone, but fierce and bold.
I carve my name in silent stone,
a war-born soul, a heart my own.
No chains, no gods, no need to bow—
I am enough. I am now.

Maybe it feels like the world is in chaos, with a maniac at the helm yelling, “bring on the fire.” Maybe you feel like running away. But trust, calm will return, wrapped in your insight, and you will want to go home again. -Mandy Ricks

Find the wild
Listen quietly to the sound of the wilderness
Trees rustling
birds chirping
the breeze whispering.
Breathe all of it in and you will feel like the wisest of us all.
-Mandy Ricks

Writing can be hard for me, but I feel compelled to continue. To find thoughts that draw pictures and sentences that explain thoughts. To offer intrigue, comfort, and hope. To trigger memories. Maybe sometimes sadness and traumas. Because all of these make up and include life. Astounding and compelling life. The same life that we give thanks for. -Mandy Ricks

Evening rolls in, softly, gently, a soothing reprieve.
And as the leaves turn and drop with graceful harmony so does my need to please.
-Mandy Ricks

Your place in my life has finally set me free to stop hating.
-Mandy Ricks

I began to write poems when I was a child. Late at night, in bed, alone with my pen.
My mother and her partner would drunkenly fight and I would write about horses and sunshine.
-Mandy Ricks

Is it the rain that makes me sad or is it the ache of emptiness that once was you?
Perhaps I just need to wait for the sun to return and warm my thoughts.
-Mandy Ricks

To me, you are simply one of those gorgeous things that was made
to do what it does perfectly, and to last, as almost nothing does, forever.

Listen to me or not, it matters little. I’m not trying to be wise. I’m a mere reflection of your dreams. -Mandy Ricks