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love, joely
The Uphill Walk & The Downhill Man
I was 7 when I first started walking myself to school. My mum was a full time nurse at Bristol’s Children’s Hospital and had to commute in the early hours of the morning, dropping my brother off at secondary school along the way, leaving me to wake myself up using my hot pink Barbie alarm clock. I usually packed my bag and laid out my uniform the night before, but I usually forgot something each day; my lunchbox, my homework, my house keys, my P.E. kit (totally wasn’t intenti
Jan 6
What I Read In MMXXV:
In 2024, I was in the biggest reading slump of my life. And I was depressed. As an avid lover of books and storytelling, these two struggles went hand in hand. So, when I decided to drop out of university and take a gap year at home, I was determined to get back into what I loved most: reading. My new year resolutions for 2025 were... simple but a lot: pass my driving test, buy my own car, loose 3 stone, go back to university, and read 50 books. For the first time in my life,
Dec 30, 2025
Girl Friendships: The Tenth Circle Of Hell
My luck with friendships ran out the second I learnt what “best friend of the day” truly meant. Remember everyone getting picked to join a team during P.E. until it’s always you and that one boy who always peed on the P.E. equipment left as a last resort? It’s like that feeling you’d get in the pit of your stomach, hoping your classmates will find you more useful for rounders than the boy with a weak bladder, but amplified tenfold. Because nobody wants to be the last choice.
Dec 11, 2025
Confessions Of A Recovering Plagiarist
In my previous post, I spoke briefly of my first failure of a blog, and it got me thinking… I owe a lot to Zoe Sugg, or should I say, my first book owes its entire plot to Girl Online. I hate to admit it, but when I tell people I've been writing stories since I was a child, you can guarantee none of it was original. In fact, from age thirteen to sixteen, I wrote 6 books with 300+ pages solely based on the original plot of CW's Arrow, starring Stephen Amell. My main character
Dec 5, 2025
The Pro(B)logue: An Ode to What Will Be...
I was twelve years old when I started my first ever blog, ‘Cup of Joe(ly)’. I had just read Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online and envisioned the next two weeks of my life full of handsome band members in flannel shirts and ripped jeans, all falling swiftly in love with me and my naturally beach wavy blonde hair always in an effortlessly assembled bun atop my head. Not to mention all the witty comebacks I had at the ready for my primary school bully when I’d roll up in a matt black limo
Nov 5, 2025
therapy with rhea
noun. / love. you use is frequently, but rarely mean it. the only love you ever knew was the devouring kind, the one your husband was known for, and over time it hurt less so it become love, at least, the idea of it. love you spent on your children, the kind you thought would do good for this world. see also: pain, gold, scars, you. noun. / loss. you have your own dream to grow old and watch hair turn to salt and pepper, because in love comes stupidity, and really you were
love, joely
6 days ago2 min read
WE’VE BEEN READING THE STORY WRONG
My mother grew a garden Surrounded by lockets of Ivy And she would say, “The Ivy is for the Wives. It clings to the walls, takes root in the soil, And can survive any kind of storm.” And in the rows of flowerbeds, Each story grows, Yearning for no more than a gentle hand To knead its soils and soothes its toils, And my mother would say, “Carnation is for the Mothers, And their boundless love.” Then she’d crush some Yarrow for my scraped knees, Trace her thumb along the bo
love, joely
Jun 31 min read
How To Kill A God
How do you kill a god? Zeus rolled his head back and laughter ripped through his chest, “Ask me that again in an eon or so, And if i still don’t have an answer, That is answer enough.” How do you kill a god? Hera looked down at the ring on her finger, “You can’t, but perhaps time can. Wait long enough and a god’s life will slowly chip away, Along with their heart, their soul, their spirit, And once they are left with nothing, That is answer enough.” How do you kill a god?
love, joely
Jun 32 min read
PERSEPHONE DARLING
How do you wish to be remembered, Maiden of the meadow and Queen of the dead men walking? Do you find power at its best as you walk among the dead, Soothing their minds, Tossing coins onto the riverbank, Hoping the extra dozen will go unnoticed, Because even as you walk the land of the dead by dusk You have a kind heart, And a gentle spirit that could pity any man. Or, do you find power at its best as you walk among the flowers, Tying string around a new bouquet of lavend
love, joely
Jun 31 min read
To The Winged Boy I Once Knew
I’ll sing you a lullaby from the depths of the sea where your body lies next to me, but your feathered wax wings stay afloat on the waves shrivelling like sun dried tomatoes under the sun’s watchful gaze, bleaching my skin like a tattoo kiss, it was never supposed to end like this. the poor boy tried to grow up and out of his little, leather shoes and take up the mantle, be a man! For it was all a part of his father’s master plan, but how could a little boy be so bold when he
love, joely
Feb 52 min read
Vivre Comme Tu Rêves
for nana, how do you sum up a life? well, you could always start with the facts- she was a daughter with no complaint, a mother with sempiternal love, a wife with arms that could hold you so tight. she had the reddest of hair, locks of auburn tied back with pursed lips, and slender fingers studded with golden rings. her eyes had the softest haze, like chewed out stars, holding out her quiescent soul in
love, joely
Dec 5, 20252 min read
Babydoll
Your eyes edged with coastlines, Baby just hold me closer On this frosted night. Forget what the others say and just Follow my lead. Your skin like hot tarmac under my thumbs, Cracking and splitting open From those swarming vultures preying by cribs. Baby, I’m screaming, But they cut out my tongue, don’t you know? Next they’ll come for my head, But it all seems worth it in the end, If your face is all I see. Baby don’t listen to what they say about me. Your hand falls, The
love, joely
Nov 6, 20251 min read
Ouroboros
The spotlight is dead, Tickets expired, Stage stripped of its clothes, So why do you still put on an act? The battle is won, The trenches filled in, The crows full with flesh, So why do you still fight? The fire is roaring, The roof over our heads stands strong, The walls are getting drunk on our laughter, So why do you still look empty inside? The table is covered in food, A banquet for the ages, Gold gilded plates stacked like Egyptian pyramids, So why do you still say you
love, joely
Nov 6, 20251 min read
Even A Worm Will Turn?
i await the day i stop writing poems about you. wasted breathe on pages fated for the fire, those that will never make it beyond the bleeding ink and into the morning sun. pathetic how much time i gave to this army of minus one, never attending, always late, the only consistency you know is the bitter kind holding on to a single thread over a cliff- no water beneath, no safety net this time. sad how many sleepless nights i have roamed these halls like a madwoman and they’d wo
love, joely
Nov 6, 20251 min read
Swan Song
act one, scene one [it was morning] when i heard it. first, a shrill, a kind of cry, coming from the bowels of the lake, and it took me by surprise when i prepared for a creature to crawl from the banks, but instead, an angel gliding along the water, it’s feathers cutting deep wounds through the topaz surface. “why is such a beautiful creature full of so much pain?” i asked the lake, and to the sound of my voice the water rippled and squirmed, aching for touch, but i could
love, joely
Nov 6, 20252 min read
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