Dear Anger,

I’ve been dishonest in my feelings for too long. I couldn’t stop loving you even if I tried. The level of intimacy that we share is unrivaled. My body knows you’ve arrived long before my brain does. You cause my hands to feel weightless as you cradle them warmly. Your voice is a melody that my ears never tire of. The taste of you spreads across my tongue into every crevice of my mouth. I can feel your spirit like a firecracker within my chest, threatening to make me come undone. When I breathe, I inhale your scent and exhale your passion. You challenge me in ways that I never dreamed possible. When I shirk and shy away from confrontation, your ardent embrace entices me to demand better. When I’m at a loss for words, you grant me yours, even if just for a moment. Your presence is commanding and frightening, and yet I wouldn’t know how to live without it. When something is unjust, it is you that calls for change. It’s one of my favorite things about you. I have to admit that you’re always on my mind, even when you probably shouldn’t be. I think of you in traffic, at work, and especially when I’m watching the news. More than anything, you push me to live my life outside of the bubble we share. You don’t feed into my codependent tendencies; instead, you motivate me to fight against them. You challenge me to consider all the options that I could pursue without you, even though we both know you’re always there for me when I need you. It’s comforting to know that even in my darkest moments, I can rely on your fiery spirit to brighten my path. You are my one true love. Everything I feel, I feel it because of you. You are difficult to love. Most people find you difficult to be around. You can be impatient, vulgar, and rude on your worst days. I’ve grown fond of calling you my unlovable lover in conversation. Sometimes I wish I didn’t love you because maybe then life would be a little easier, a little quieter, a little smaller. But you constantly remind me that love should be hard, loud, and large. I can’t promise much in this life, but I can promise you this; I will fight for your love every day the same way you fight for me. I love you, and I only hope everyone experiences the love I’ve been fortunate enough to share with you.

Your lover,

Makayla Judge

Style Score: 100%

Love it

Since the moment i saw you i fell in love
The age of 5 is where my mind goes watching All that at nick at night
At the age of 7-8 i would watch more channels and just couldn’t get my eyes off of the food channel
“bam ,bam” is the words i heard and the audience clapping right after it
Right before a commercial the show band will play doc gibs
It was chef Emeril lagasse i could not stop watching
He made me fall in love with the kitchen
Influencing my young self to make my first scrambled egg all by myself
Even though i was afraid of fire i still tackled that stove on medium low for a few minutes to cook the eggs
Food and music is a universal language on any occasion it soothes your soul from a birthday or attending a funeral
It is cold comfort food fro a reason
Learning that we have some many spices and seasonings other than salt and pepper
I would later on learn how to cook selfish ,chicken and other protein and just be so proud of myself
Impressing my mom and grandma with my dishes at a young age was the biggest pride
They can leave me alone at home and i will be fine i could cook for myself and sibling if i have to
My biggest pass time is in the kitchen whether it is with family or just trying out new dishes
Cooking is the coolest and most fun way to not only bond with someone but get to know their culture and likes /dislikes

My Dearest Cancer,

When I saw the prompt for this competition—Write a love letter to something, not someone—I knew immediately what I would choose. And I knew it would be controversial. A love letter to cancer? To the harbinger of suffering, the thief of time, the unwelcome guest in so many bodies? It’s a touchy subject, raw and untouchable for many, but for me, meeting you has been a love story—as odd as that may sound.

Not the kind that sweeps you off your feet, but the kind that guts you open, that forces you to see yourself in ways you never dared. You arrived without invitation, burrowing into the most private parts of me—my asshole, of all places—demanding attention, forcing my hand. If nothing else, you’ve got a sense of humor. At first, I braced for war. That’s what everyone told me to do—fight it, beat it, don’t let it win. But I have never been one to follow convention, or accept an easy narrative.

And I found something unexpected.

You became my permission slip. To grieve unapologetically. To cry without restraint, to let others witness my sorrow instead of tucking it away in the polite folds of I’m fine. You made my grief legible in a way my mother’s suicide and my father’s dementia never did. When I lost them, I learned how to disappear into my pain, how to mask my devastation in ways that made others comfortable. But you? You made it impossible to hide. You turned my suffering inside out, made it visible. And people—finally—saw me. They didn’t look away. They sat with me, showed up, and held space for my sorrow in ways I never allowed them to before.

You made my life urgent in a way that only cancer can, forcing me to take inventory of every choice, breath, and heartbeat. What is worth my time? Who do I love? How do I want to spend this one wild, unpredictable life?

I never wanted to beat you, not in the way others do. How could I fight something that has given me so much? Instead, I want to sit with and learn from you. You are the manifestation of all I have endured—trauma that settled into my bones, choices that I made with my body before I understood what they meant. You are not some foreign invader; you are a part of me, shaped by my past, by everything that has ever happened to me. And if I am to heal, I must first love you. Accept you.

You’ve made me take chances. Cracked me open a second time, made me braver, softer, more compassionate. You have shown me the art of forgiveness—not just for others, but for myself. You have sharpened my hunger for life, not in the vague, theoretical sense, but in the way my hands now linger on warm skin, the way I savor the taste of food, the way my laughter rises unrestrained, the way I say I love you first, without fear of how it lands.

You have given me the courage to write again. To pull my stories from the marrow of my experience and lay them bare. Without you, I might never have let my voice slip into the world in the way it was meant to. And maybe that is what you were always meant to do—not to silence me, but to make me louder.

And when you leave, as I hope you will, I will carry the lessons you’ve etched into me. I will cradle the urgency, clarity, and appreciation you’ve awakened. I’ll remember how you taught me to live as if every breath is borrowed, every sunrise a rare gift, every touch a tether to the divine.

I know someday we will have to part. You will fade, and I will go on. But there’s a small part of me that wants to hold onto the urgency you have given, the sharpened awareness of how precious, fleeting—miraculous my existence is.

And while I may have embraced you, I will not become your sycophant. I do not want to love you so much that I let you consume me. I will not bow to you or glorify you beyond your purpose. You have been my teacher, my reckoning, my reminder. But I won’t let you write the ending.

After all, all is fair in love and war—and I have chosen love.

You haven’t merely helped me answer the question of whether I want to live. You have shown me what it means to truly live. And when I think of you in the quiet of my solitude, I won’t curse your name but instead whisper a soft thank you.

And for that, for all of it, I love you.

With gratitude,
Rachel

(PRO WRITING AID STYLE SCORE 91%)

Meeting you was like winning the lottery. It was the best decision I ever made to become your girlfriend. Thank you for loving me for who I am and not wanting to change a thing about me. Thank you for helping me love myself more each day. You consistently go above and beyond, and you have been nothing but a blessing in my life. I’m grateful for you every day, in every moment.

Your touch, your scent, your smile, your eyes—everything about you is perfect to me. You are the most selfless, unique, outgoing, and loving person I have ever known. I remember the first time we met and our first conversation. I recall the moment you thought I was cute and when you asked me to be your girlfriend. It was in Central Park, and it was raining. We stood under a bridge, soaked, and you held me in your arms, asking, “Will you be my girlfriend?” It felt like a scene from a romcom.

I remember our first kiss and all the special moments we’ve shared. We have now been together for 992 days, and we continue to promise each other forever. With you, it truly feels like eternity. I remember when I first fell in love with you; it wasn’t love at first sight. I fell in love when you stayed with me at the hospital for ten hours. That’s when I knew you were different from other men I’ve known, and I love you for that.

People say that when you are truly with the right person, you start to look alike. That’s what I see in us. I love you, handsome, forever and always.

Dearest darling, my beloved,
You’re the one that I most covet.
For all your strength, you can be sweet,
And nothing else can quite compete.
You’re hot, you’re cool but always smooth.
My wrangled feelings you can soothe,
But you can also energize,
And have, indeed, opened my eyes
In ways impossible without
Your potent aid, I have no doubt.
Sometimes, you have a hint of spice,
And yet, I think, you’re awfully nice.
When we’re together, whilst I sup,
I feel I can just drink you up.
So, coffee, coffee, Valentine,
Fill up my cup and, please, be mine.

Prowritingaid Style Score 100%

To the thing that gives me life, the energy within everything that is. My love for you transcends all dimensions, time, and space. I have always felt love for you, but it took me a while to understand you. Growing up, others taught me that your love was conditional and if I was not obedient, then it would no longer be there, but I never believed that. So instead, I let your love live inside of me until I understood it for myself.
You are the reason for life on Earth and the feelings within my body. Because of you, the wind blows and the sun shines. I can feel sadness while also feeling joy, fear while also feeling courage. You are the reason I feel immense peace when staring at the sky. There are no conditions for your love because you are just that: love. The intensity you carry brings people together; creates life on Earth; brings purpose.
Your love is what we are here to find and connect with. A journey that is made specifically for you. Everything always comes back to you. My heart skips a beat thinking of how intense my love for you is because it is simply all that I am. I long for a greater awareness that your love exists and for those to feel it the way I do, because it is what keeps me going. I will dedicate my entire life to sharing my love for you with those around me. My purpose is to show others they can also feel the same love for you as I do.
Universe, you are the reason I live and I would simply not exist without you. Continue sharing your love with me because it is the best feeling I have ever felt. It is strong enough to move mountains and create miracles, but we must accept it. My greatest accomplishment is letting you into my heart, and you will forever be there with me. I love you Universe.
(100% style score)

Dear Coffee,

I just had to tell you how much I love you. I’m so glad you’re a part of my life. Every day, I Wake up just knowing we will be together. You smell so good to me. How you do it, I’ll never know. My lips can’t wait for you to be against them. Your taste is so luscious for me. I can’t get enough of you. Your Aroma fills my room, and it makes me want you even more.

You, baby, are the best I’ve ever had. When I wake up in the mornings, I love knowing you’re there for me, willing and ready to fill feel my every desire. You make my heart skip a beat. Your bold, robust taste is attractive. You are my heart’s delight. I love it when we go out together early in the morning, just before sunrise. I caress you gently against my lips. As the sun rises. As I look down at you, all hot and steamy. And all I can think about is how good my day is going to be. I think about you all day and can never get you off my mind. You’re the one for me. There is no other. I will meet you later at the coffee shop. Until then, your favorite set of lips.

I love you today tomorrow and forever yours truly, coffee girl

STYLE SCORE 100%

When we have to depart from each other, it leaves me with an ache of longing to be in your presence just a bit longer.

I enjoy feeling your grip take hold of me as the flames of desire seem to burn stronger.

All the places I’ve been to, things I’ve done, and faces I’ve seen. I couldn’t have experienced it all on my own, so thank you for assisting in allowing that for me.

My time with you has involved a whirlwind of events and emotions that I may not always understand, fear, or willingly wish to face.

Regardless of those moments, I feel completely safe when I find myself wrapped in your powerful embrace.

You have become my drug that my body craves….my addiction that I can’t shake. After leaving from our time together…my body feels refreshed, rejuvenated, and awake.

I find myself missing you as I carry on throughout my day. Sometimes I find myself in a state of frustration at the fact that I can’t be with you when I want to because my impatience makes it difficult having to wait.

Although I know that I will see you again within hours of having to tell you goodbye. That timeframe, for me, is excruciating, to say the least, because you are never very far from my mind.

Of all that your presence brings me, the 2 most powerful are the sense of euphoria and the blissfully calming peace.

The only thing that I hope you know and will never forget is that I always have, I always do, and I always will… absolutely, undeniably, unconditionally love you My precious sleep.

(47% Style Score)

Dear Pregnancy,
This has been the most intense nine months of my life. I have never grown so much as a person so quickly. From my body, to my relationships, all the way to the way my mind works, you have taught me so much about myself. I won’t lie there has been times when I’ve seriously not liked you, but at the end of this long journey I’ve never been more grateful for an experience more than this one.
At first you were quite a head rush. Everything about you seemed exciting. I told everyone about you. Every person in my life was excited for me. In my mind, I had always wanted this. There was nothing that could break my happy high. I started planning as soon as you arrived. Some could even say I got a little ahead of myself with how quickly I moved as soon as I found out.
Then suddenly there was all the bad. The sickness all day every day. The hatred for all the foods I once loved. The sleepless nights of insomnia. The absolute shame I felt looking into the mirror. The amount of friends I lost. Last but certainly not least, the dread of feeling like there was no way in the world I could ever be a mother.
Slowly but surely, you taught me the reverse of all these things. Like how the sickness was my body starting the creation of my little boy. The fact that losing my favorite foods meant temporarily enjoying all the weird and fun cravings. Even some things I never liked at all! All the sleepless nights made me be so much more appreciative of my rest and how important it is for me, because before I took my rest for granted. I also have a beautiful new outlook on my body image because of you. I grew a whole human! Do you know how insane that is to wrap your head around? I may have a tummy and definitely no thigh gap, but I have the most wonderful little man in the entire world. I also learned that some friends are meant to be left in the past. There are some who are behind closed doors super fake and are not deserving of my love and devotion. There are also some who I had to let go because they were not healthy for me and I would have never seen that without you. Lastly, I was so scared of being a mom. I did not think I had what it takes to be one. Maybe I don’t, but now I know that there’s nothing in the world I would not do for this little guy. I have learned that I am going to make so so so many mistakes and that sometimes my belief in myself is going to shake. That’s okay. This will make me stronger and will help me grow and learn so I can do better for him.
So I guess I’m just trying to say thank you. Thank you for all the bad that I did not understand was all the good. Thank you for teaching me to grow as a person. Thank you for pushing me to learn so much about myself. Thank you for seeking out my genuine friends. Thank you for making my relationship with my partner blossom in new ways I didn’t know to be possible. Most importantly, thank you for my little boy who I can’t wait to watch grow, and learn, and love. Thank you.
Our time seemed long while it was here. When in reality it was quite short. I look forward to visiting you in the future again. I cannot wait to see what else you will teach me then.
Love always,
A first time mom……
(Style Score- 62%)

Beautiful Promise,

Your metal is both cold and hot. The chill of your initial presence makes you hard to ignore, but it is your warmth that tells me how special you truly are. It is as if all the love shared between my partner and I have embedded deeply within you. The continuous circle represents the never ending bond between lovers. Your diamonds shine with the blinding bliss of knowing we’ve come this far. And your unique design, both of antique detail and modern style, tells of a story for the ages. You hold our history, the good, the bad, and the lovely. You are my reminder of the bold love I am blessed to share, and I will forever cherish you.

Love,

A Future Bride

Style Score 100%

Dearest love of my life,

I love you with every breath of my being
I love your good
I love your bad
I love everything about you
I love you easy but hard
I fell for you when I was 13
I never experienced a love as this
It was a cosmic unbalance that knocked me off my feet
The chemistry between you and I
I needed to touch you, see you, feel you and that creativity of bliss
I needed you, I yearned you in the deepest place of my soul
Poetry, you have always been the one for me
Always and forever, oh how you’ve completed me
I love the foreplay in our wordplay as the ink splatter thy pages
Coming together making masterpieces of disbelief
The relief you give me for allowing me to completely be me
It’s Always been you and I
Pen full of ink and pages in the wind
We make love constantly, intertwined, combined and the euphoria is devine

Dear you;

My love. My kryptonite. My coldest enemy and my warmest embrace. I never thought I would be yours. People say that you fall in love in certain ways, and I may have acknowledged it, but I never actually believed it to be true. Yet here I am, palms sweating at the thought of lacking your presence. At first you were a subtle love. I played it cool. We didn’t get together that much, and I never called you during our time apart. It didn’t take long for me to fall head over heels in love with you. The way you took the breath out of my chest. The way I could feel alive in your presence, and the nights that we would spend together, learning everything about one another. I will never be the same after meeting you. This will now be my life as I know it, and YOU gave that to me. You opened up parts of my mind and my soul that I hadn’t known existed before. You enveloped me in courage, confidence, and motivation to be better. You uplifted me.

At first. You helped me through my long work days, and you pushed me to get through my roles as a mother until I was finally allowed rest. At first. You taught me how to have fun again, and how it felt to be amongst friends. At first. You taught me to be responsible, and how to build and maintain the best possible life for myself. At first.

But shortly afterward, you started changing. You started changing me. My night shifts were easier, but my roles as a mother became more and more scarce. Soon enough, after CPS involvement and harsh words exchanged between the fathers of my children, I got the girls less. Even more so after my children were traumatized by the person you made me become. I lost them. My babies. Eventually, my job followed suit. Soon enough, it wasn’t fun anymore, and I saw more evil amongst the snakes disguised as friends than I had ever witnessed prior to you. My life started to crumble before me like shattering teeth as I lost every bit of my self esteem. Eventually, I crashed. Into the pits of what most may call rock bottom. You watched me smash into it’s dark, cold, lonely, fucked up pit, and instead of grabbing my hand and helping me, you laughed at me. You mocked me. With the most sinister smile, you reminded me that they had all warned me about you, and I hadn’t listened.

I knew you would break my heart. I knew you would leave me weak when you took my strength, lonely when I ruined every relationship around me just to keep yours, broken from when you influenced me to make these stupid decisions. You weren’t there for me when I fell down the way that you promised you would be. As I look around, I am on my own. The only people present are the ones asking me if I am hungry, because my homelessness is now suddenly so obvious. The families feeling sorry for me because they know what I am lacking, or judging me, because my absolute need for you is becoming physically apparent.

I put my trust in you. Gave my life to you, methamphetamine. You did what every single person told me you would. You grabbed ahold of me and you dug your claws deep inside of me. You held on for dear life and you watched me ambush mine. You sat back while I self-destructed and turned myself into an empty shell of the person that I used to be. You stole my sunshine. You stole my kids. My home. My job. My family. My friends. You made me depend on you, and you taunt me every fucking day of my life. Those that don’t know you should feel fortunate. Because you are a monster. A beautiful, vicious, exciting, terrifying existence, and I wouldn’t wish you on my worst enemy. Yet here I stand, with you in my daily routine. Learning more and more new ways to experience the absolute fucking euphoria that accompanies you for those few moments after we connect. Shaking, nauseated, in physical agony, and desperate for you when you are gone. I love you, and you fucking hate me. You prove that to me every day as you assist me in letting go of one more piece of myself.
I will never forget you, but I need to say goodbye.

(Style Score 77%)

Thank you for getting through.
Thank you for all you do!
Thank you for breathing.
Thank you for receiving.
Thank you for believing.
Thank you for achieving.
Thank you for giving life meaning.
Thank you for speaking freely.
Thank you for sometimes taking it easy.
Thank you for sometimes being the only one believing in me.
Thank you for looking at myself and uplifting me.
Thank you to the person I grew to be.
Thank you to yours truly.

You got this! even when you think you don’t
When things get dark and results seem unknown
Understand that giving up isn’t an option
And we can’t allow ourselves to drown in our emotions
Everybody has some rough days, I know I had the worst
And I done been ignored by people I love when I told them I was hurt
But a lot of people don’t even know how to show up for you
And everyone can’t really relate to what you are going through
But Don’t dwell on those thoughts don’t look for no false reality
Just Focus on you and be who you aspire to be
Cause Real people gonna be in your corner if you do the same
And wack people gonna show they true colors they can’t help but to be lame!
Just Focus, and just stay the course
Dead all them negative thoughts, no remorse!
That negative spiral will get you caught in a trap
Being too real to the fake will leave YOU unhinged and not intact
And they are looking for a refill yet your cup is empty
Meanwhile they still half full and won’t even share any with me
But if you let them win then that makes you a loser
You should be concerned only with how to get them out your life sooner
Cause At the end of the road this life is over
Meanwhile you wasting time going out sad looking for a sign or some closure
And I know people who love deep find it hard to detach
But if you go today it’s giving settle for less would be your only impact
When you set boundaries the people who love you will respect them
And if you really setting boundaries you can’t buckle down for her or for him
You gotta show people that you deserve a soft life
If you don’t show them how they supposed to see that shit right?
And I know that’s not an easy task
But much better than living life behind a mask
Being miserable every day is a crazy life
But imagine living with regrets in the afterlife
Don’t be malicious to people ever, but be true to you more than anyone
Always remember when your cup was empty and they had some they had no problem leaving you with none
And not taking care of yourself is self abuse and toxic
People pleasing is manipulative as fuck… it’s a mind trick
Cause scraping up something to give someone what you don’t have
I think that might be the beginnings of creating a psychopath
Cause when you thirsty and your cup empty you start thinking crazy
Depression and anxiety co exist while you dying of thirst but they hydrated!
Then when their cup starts running low they like here you can have a sip
Then they like “Just make sure when you done can refill my shit”
So focus on happy no matter who you have to leave behind
Life is short we really don’t have too much time
Pour into yourself and if your cup overflows you can give them a lil drip sometimes

You did not deserve that. You didn’t realize it at the time, but you and her both had to go through it, for something bigger that made no sense to you at all. It was understandable why you felt the way that you did, but you have no idea how wrong you were. You were not a meek little girl with no chance of happiness in your life, although you couldn’t see that yet. You were always worthy of being loved.

Our half-siblings stood behind you in the bedroom doorway in the middle of the night, watching the crash of our parents’ marriage. Our father grabbed the heavy glass ashtray with old cigarettes butts still in it and threw it across the room, aiming for our mother.

She ducked and the ashtray hit the wall and shattered to pieces, along with any last string of hope they had for each other. She shut the door and told him to choose us or the alcohol.

He chose alcohol. He also told her that you were coming with him and when she fought him on it, they held you suspended in the air, asking who you wanted to go with. How could they ever think that was fair? You were three years old and had no idea what you wanted. You picked the first person you made eye contact with, which was mom, and you chose to stay with her. You made your bed and would surely lie in it, but one day, it would all make sense.

After dad left, she became a single mother of three children and we grew up in unsafe and poor neighborhoods. We were constantly moving homes because rent was raised or she wasn’t able to pay the bills. We were on a constant loop of moving places and schools and going to stay with friends or family.

On our 10th birthday, she was about to leave for work and was crying. She told us she felt guilty that she could only afford one cupcake and one Barbie doll, unwrapped. We knew how tight money was, so this meant even more and we were so excited for the gift. She may not have known it, but we really looked up to her for working so hard to put a roof over our heads, regardless of the moving, lack of birthday gifts, and the amount of time she was away for work.

There was a point that it all changed and she broke. Growing up, we knew she had depression and it ran in her side of the family, but we didn’t know what we were going to learn when we got older. I know that there isn’t anything in this world that you wanted more than for her to show up as a mother.

When you told her about being sexually abused by a family member, she told you that your siblings didn’t believe you and found out years later, she never told them. When you told her about a different family member trying to touch you, she said he did that to her all the time, and she wasn’t surprised…and yet she let you stay the night there.

In the beginning of 7th grade, she picked you up from school telling you that she met a guy online, was in love and was moving that night to go live in another state to be with him. She offered for you to go with her or with her brother and his wife. This will be the best thing that has ever happened to you.

With both of your parents leaving you, you’ll wonder how anybody could ever love you if the people that were programmed to love you couldn’t. You’ll go through many long years fighting abandonment issues, depression and anxiety.

When you are 18, you’ll be reunited with your long-lost father. You will learn that you have a 50% chance of having Huntington’s disease, which is a genetic neurological disease in his family. You’ll learn that there isn’t a cure, it attacks any part of your brain it wants to, and you’ll be faced with a choice to get tested at 18.

You had to go through it all to become the brave woman that you are. You’ll choose to get tested and will be diagnosed, but it won’t hold you back in life. You’ll find the best man who adores you and knows how deserving of love you are.

You will use writing as a coping mechanism to help deal with the chaos after she left, and you will fall deeply in love with words, hoping to help heal others through them.

She had to go through her own journey, and so did you to see how beautiful life was going to be.