Late drives and the games we’d play I love you more every day Flesh and fantasies Sunset memories Smoking with you And the songs I’d show you Caressing in blue All I wanna do We’d sit in my room And Id still think of you Love seats of green Red wine and whiskey I make us some tea And watch the broken tv And to forget the nights that we didn’t share I’d take my white pills and I’d just sit there And listen to music and fight off the demons Telling me I overdosed on made up feelings And yeah they’re made up but what can I do When you standing there lookin so cute Lookin at me and I’m lookin at you All of my life w nothin better to do Than to just be with you

Rubeen Salem

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I create art with an aim to inspire others to allow themselves the permission to feel their vulnerabilities. Growing up with divorced parents, I had moved a lot in my youth. This made it difficult to establish a secure sense of identity. With the drastic changes in the culture and personalities of where I lived, it was hard to find a self I was secure in. I found myself pretending to be someone I’m not to appeal to new company and make friends easier. I learned that we get to create who we are, and not to play into who we think others want us to be. It wasn’t until the Fall of 2022 that I found myself having become a version of myself that I love. And I wish I knew sooner how to be myself, and how to love and appreciate that self, despite others not. Through my art, I intend to instill in others the acceptance of their true selves, the permission to feel their emotions fully, and the confidence to share that with others—sharing because we are all worthy of loving and being loved.