Another One Bites The Dust: Where Love Burns

Lauren Nixon-Matney • April 12, 2026
Another One Bites The Dust: Where Love Burns
Retro 32-bit pixel art of two figures back-to-back surrounded by swirling fire beneath a star-filled sky with floating music notes, symbolizing conflict, passion, and reconciliation through musical echolalia, inspired by Another One Bites the Dust by Queen and themes of love, tension, and emotional cycles. Part of the Searching for Stars multimedia memoir book series universe by writer and digital creator Lauren Nixon-Matney.

This piece is a spoken word poem written from the perspective of musical echolalia in real time… when emotion syncs with a song and starts to structure the way you think and feel.

The rhythm is there guiding the moment as it unfolds.


Not accidental… but something the brain recognizes as familiar and safe, like it’s already playing softly in the background, buried underneath the memory taking shape.

Another One Bites The Dust: Where Love Burns


it’s already happening


I can feel it in my chest

before a single word lands right


that tight

familiar

here we go



you say something


I hear something else


and I don’t check it

I don’t slow it

I don’t give you the benefit


I react 



boom


you swing back


of course you do


we don’t do soft

when we’re like this



another one bites the dust


not us

not yet

not today


but something does


every time



we get mean


not strangers-on-the-internet mean


worse


the kind of mean

that knows exactly

where to go


because we’ve been trusted

with the map



and I hate that part


I hate

how easy it is

to hurt you


I hate

how easy it is

to choose it



and I feel it


right there

mid-sentence


this is wrong


this is not who I want to be


this is not who I am


and I keep going



because you are too


because we both care

too much

to stay quiet


and now we’re both

too far in


to pretend

we didn’t mean it



another one bites the dust


not us


just respect

just softness

just the version of love

we talk about

when we’re not like this



we don’t stop

we exhaust


we run it all the way out

like we’re trying to win something

that doesn’t exist


like we forgot

we’re on the same team



and then


nothing



just that silence


where everything we said

is still sitting there


alive



and this is the part

that breaks me


not the yelling


this


looking at you


and knowing

I just made you feel

something I would never

want you to feel



and knowing


you did it back



we don’t break


we burn


and sometimes

we burn each other


and then we have to stand there

in the smoke


of something we built


together


and figure out

how to breathe


again



I look at you


really look


past the fight

past the words

past the fire 


and the realization becomes raw


harder than anything we said



I love you


and I just treated you

like nothing… like dust 


that’s the part

that aches



another one bites the dust


not us


not today


just something inside us

that keeps breaking

before we can catch it


“Hey, are you ready for this?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?”


“Out of the doorway, the [insults] rip

To the sound of the beat”



and I know better


that’s the shame


I know the pattern

I know the rhythm


how fast it builds

how hard it hits

how it always sounds the same

right before it falls apart


the same beat

every time



boom


there it is


again



and now it’s quiet


just the aftermath

of another round


another hit

another thing we can’t take back

another piece of us

on the floor



another one bites the dust



I just sit in it


feel it


how close we get

every time



to something breaking

for real



we don’t fix it 


we just stay


in the wreckage


breathing



and it changes


not all at once


not clean


just… less loud



the same space


different air



I can still feel it


where it landed


what it cost



but you’re still there


not across from me


not against me


just… there



close


like we always end up


whether we mean to or not



and it’s not fixed


nothing about this is fixed



but something familiar 

starts to come back


through the wreckage


through the pride

still sitting in our throats


through the part of me

that wants to stay mad



something older than the fight


something stronger than the words


something more powerful than heat



I reach for you


just… instinct


like my body knows

before I do


we stand there


in what we did


in what we are


in all the ways

we still don’t get it right



and still


it’s you



still


it’s me



still


us



another one bites the dust


not us


and the fire’s still there


but different now


quieter


closer



the same heat


that burned


now pulling us back in


and I let it



not the fight


not the words



you



I let you pull me back in


even with all of this

still sitting between us



because it’s always been like that


hasn’t it



we don’t do anything halfway


not the damage


not the love



and I hate that

and I love that


at the same time



because even here


even like this


I know what this is



I know who you are to me



and I feel it


under everything


under the noise

under the heat



still there


still steady



not gone


not even close



another one bites the dust


not us



I’m still here


still yours


wide-eyed 

with admiration 

and pride 


even when I don’t get it right



even when it looks like this


messy 


vivacious


alive


Searching For Stars

By Lauren Nixon-Matney April 12, 2026
Film: Young Guns Bon Jovi : Blaze of Glory
By Lauren Nixon-Matney April 12, 2026
*A letter of light for Rosie Blair* Okay this is going to sound oddly specific but stay with me... You remind me of a very particular kind of feeling. The kind that lives somewhere between fall air, soft lighting, and a childhood movie that most people forgot existed, but the ones who remember it? Oh we remember. The 1987 Chipmunk Adventure! Which I did not expect to ever connect to another adult human about, and yet here I am. There’s just something about that movie the movement, the music, the chaos, the fun, the outfits, the chipettes... like being in motion and color and sound at the same time. And watching you feels like that again in a weirdly beautiful , full circle way. Not in a “this is aesthetic content” way more like a “this is a person who actually lives inside her life” way. And ironically that’s what makes your aesthetic top notch in my opinion. Cozy but not fake. Honest and raw but not too harsh. Funny without trying to perform funny. (which is rarer than people think) There’s a warmth in how you show up that feels familiar in a way I can’t fully explain but definitely recognize. I came across you scrolling my phone, postpartum, trying to find my footing again. At the time I was in that weird in between space, relearning my body, trying to feel like myself inside something that had completely changed... yet again. And you showed up in your space on instagram in a way that felt real. Authentic. Original. Not “perfect body positivity” not curated confidence just a woman existing in her body dressing it, living in it, laughing in it and making that feel normal again. Healthy. Beautiful. Fun! Something I really grew to respect about you was that you didn’t stay frozen in one version of that message or yourself just to make people comfortable. You shifted. And I really admire the way you talk about Changing your mind. Leaving spaces that don’t feel right anymore. Figuring out that loving yourself isn’t one fixed version it evolves. That kind of honesty is quietly powerful and extremely profound. You evolved and changed your mind out loud. And people always have something to say when a woman does that... but you stayed steady anyway. That kind of self trust? That’s the part people don’t talk about enough. That’s what bravery looks like in real time! You don’t just create content, you create an honest space for people to re-meet themselves in whatever version they’re currently in. It’s the kind of magic that doesn’t need to be announced it just exists, and people feel it when they orbit around it. You didn’t just show up on my feed, you showed up in a moment where I needed to feel like myself again. Like a song you forgot you loved until it comes back on and suddenly you remember everything. And somehow through outfits, honesty, humor, book reviews and a lot of zany ingenuity... you saved parts of my girlhood that likely make me a better mother. Thanks so much for being you! Thanks for being real. Thanks for taking up space, your energy’s reach is more powerful than you ever might have imagined. P.S... I have to add this because it lives rent free in my brain! That Taylor Swift workout series you did?!? absolutely unhinged in the best way It was funny and chaotic and somehow still motivating… I'm not deep in Taylor Swift knowledge territory, but it made me pause and go “okay wait... there’s something here.” The way she owns her work, reclaims it, redraws the line that I own me energy it felt incredibly aligned with what you were doing too. With love, light and gratitude, Stay Weird! -Lauren “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” -Louisa May Alcott
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