The empty chair was a constant reminder.

He thought of his dreams as messages from his hidden brain, the part of him that was gagged by his ego when awake.

They were know-it-alls and boisterous bullies and didn't have a clue why they were shunned.

The hawk took the mourning dove leaving nothing but a pile of feathers and a sense of trepidation among the other birds.

After the breakdown Elise avoided parties believing her friends would watch her with a laser focus looking to see if anything she said or did appeared at all aberrant.

The simple joy of strumming a guitar was better than a thousand plaudits.

We replaced the poets with pop culture and selflessness with selfies.