Yes,
it rolls off my tongue
the same way a page
moves between my fingers
as I flip through a stack
riddled with fingerprints,
drink stains, and food crumbs. 

Yes to questions, to love, to life.
Yes to problems, to abuse, to drama.
Yes to the not-so silent voices
that live in the back of your mind,
telling you what your worth,
even if others tell you they aren’t right.

Yes to all the good and the bad,
that make up your world,
because someone once said,
this be our rotten reality.
And we must accept all that is real,
otherwise we stand outside the status quo
looking in at those who happily said yes.
Even miserably so.

Because we were always told to say yes,
even if yes sticks to our teeth
like sickly sweets and vomit we can’t
seem to brush away.
So we say yes.
Until we learn
You can actually say no.