https://amberignat.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Uhrs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf80e6d6-222e-4431-8a85-f701a5ee5142_1287x1288.pnghttps://amberignat.substack.comSubstackWed, 02 Sep 2026 16:21:45 GMThttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/m3-prohttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/m3-proWed, 15 Jul 2026 04:41:50 GMThe lies in my bed
and all I can think about
is how I wish
it was you

he has the same computer
as you
and makes music too
he thinks I’m cool
but doesn’t want to
hold me down
not the way you did
or at least
the way I thought you did

because you added my fingerprint to yours
but forgot until
the next time I came over
and you didn’t believe
it worked
like you didn’t mean
to keep me around

your phone was synced too
I saw you and her texting
while you were teaching me
how to DJ
and I didn’t say anything
until you noticed
said she was a coworker
as if that changed
what I read

asked me to leave at 3am
and I actually cried
in front of you
so you said never mind
and kept texting her
while we sat
legs overlapped
facing each other
on the couch

and I hated
that I still loved you

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/giant-sparklershttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/giant-sparklersSat, 04 Jul 2026 02:17:12 GMT
we have these giant sparklers
from over ten years ago
that somehow still work

we have a picture of you
baby faced
holding one in the middle of the street
like you held most things

we lit some on New Year’s Eve for you
after you passed earlier that month

we talked about lighting some
tomorrow
on the 4th of July

but then they wouldn’t be propped up
like trophies
in the corner of the room
with the rest of your stuff

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/laurahttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/lauraThu, 25 Jun 2026 21:21:46 GMTcall her Lady Luck,
name her Fortuna—
either works as long as you
do not disturb her.

the Queen of Hearts
is getting ready.
she wears a blood-red dress
and doesn’t give out
her real name.

she’ll fill your sails
only when she feels it.

her eyes like neon on the sea at night,
slick and electric,
with a stare that floats
just outside the moment.

like the missing woman
before she came back,
trapped in a room of ideas
made on her behalf—
from a portrait hung by shadows,
and no idea who they obsessed over.

she smokes her second cigarette
and watches the night
spiral inside circles of light—
like the bugs did in those southern summers,
before she knew better.

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/early-decemberhttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/early-decemberWed, 24 Jun 2026 14:57:44 GMTyour river ran unfenced
like wild horses,
always moving,
as if stillness
might undo you.
chasing the sun
like something made from it,
your strawberry hair 
catches fire
in the early hours
when the sky forgives everything.

you match the season too well.

summer wouldn’t have let you go,
she would’ve kept you barefoot,
pressed warm nights into your palms,
tricked you into staying
just one more.

so maybe the cold fit better.

early December—
with snow angels
and their childlike wonder.
breath crystallized 
into small prayers,
while the wind 
held your whispers 
like precious gems,
with laughter tucked
between its fingers,
each one a green sapphire
that matched your eyes,
wrapped inside a prehnite light
that I don’t think
ever left your side.

and I don’t think
a day will ever go by
where you won’t
barrel through
my mind
like a runaway train,
and while I wait
here on the tracks
listening,
can you save a spot for me
in your carriage
if you ever find yourself
passing by
just long enough 
to catch 
one green light?

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/pink-and-whitehttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/pink-and-whiteSat, 20 Jun 2026 20:53:47 GMTI offered flowers to the water,
my hands gripping the stems
like they needed something
to hold on to.

pink and white petals,
heavy as if cast to stone.
but once I let go
they refused their weight.

arranging themselves on the waves
like they knew they were done
standing upright,
finally laid to rest.

I watched the shore reclaim them,
the water stretching itself,
returning some to my feet
as if it were trying to speak.

and when they landed in the sand,
I picked them up and did it again.
I could only throw them so far out.
my arms are only so strong.

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/lucretias-dilemmahttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/lucretias-dilemmaFri, 19 Jun 2026 18:23:04 GMTeverything’s fuzzy—
colors softening to grey,
like the snow screen
on a dead channel
searching for signal.

white noise swells,
sparks a weird tingle:
tapped with panic,
pressure,
posed.

my eyes read my mind
as gin and tonic slips
from my hand—
laid out like a Renaissance painting,
a gilded beauty
studied for centuries
by men
who could never know
what Lucretia knew:

how breath becomes a weapon,
and silence,
a final act of survival—

the cruel grace
that comes,
with the gasp
of waking up.

]]>https://amberignat.substack.com/p/lavenderhttps://amberignat.substack.com/p/lavenderThu, 18 Jun 2026 12:23:03 GMTlately life feels
one shade away from breaking
like when lavender colors the sky
a pale purple courage
right before the storm
where the air smells ancient
and moves like memory

I crush it between my hands
just to remember
how calm sits in them

but it breaks slow
leaves a scent under my fingernails
sticky and invasive
like honey pulled from a hive

even the flowers know how to close up
when the sun gets too bright

the petals crumble
into purple-grey specks
pollen fills the air
then disappears

all the soft parts of me
I pretend I still have

I brush the dust off my lap
like a loss I could feel coming

]]>