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7.2k · Oct 2018
stay.
Em Quinn Oct 2018
stay.

four letters that can't take away the pain.
i am nothing but a voice aside from the ones in your head,
the ones telling you how small you are,
whispers in your ear,
they tell you you are worthless,
i tell you you are beautiful.
only you can choose who to believe.

stay.

the day you leave, your best friend will sit alone at the lunch table,
turning to the spot you once sat,
and their eyes will become wells of emptiness
a quiet sadness filling the place that you once were.
your best friend will start fading away, breaking into fragments,
and you have the nerve to leave them alone?
you say, the earth will keep turning,
but your best friend's world is crumbling more every day,
and soon it will fall apart completely.

because of you.
2.5k · Jan 2018
the moral of the story.
Em Quinn Jan 2018
when i was 8 years old,
i got off the bus.

i got off the bus to two words.
the next 72 hours were spent hiding in a basement.
nothing was coming.
i think, at least...

the whispers in my head told me otherwise though,
so in the basement i stayed.


when i was 10 years old,
the news woman shared stories.

the news woman told me the end was near.
maybe that wasn't her exact words.
i didn't sleep...
just in case.

insomnia became a friend of mine.


when i was twelve years old,
the new year rung in and i was alone.

the house was blanketed in silence,
and i sat on an empty couch,
and everything had seemed so quiet.
a razor blade was my only company.

we became quite close that night.


when i was fourteen years old,
i wandered barren hallways,
adorned with crimson.
they had given me free socks when i'd arrived.

the psych ward was not nearly as loud as the voices in my head.

i am now sixteen years old.
medications flow through my veins,
scars dance up and down my wrists,
and although i am surrounded by people,

i am so alone.


the moral of the story:
tell me when you figure it out,
because trust me, i'm still trying.
*sigh* life's been tough lately.
Em Quinn Jan 2018
dear...
frien-
i don't know if i could call you that.
a friend.

we've had our disputes.
you and i stood face to face,

eye to eye,

and i could do nothing but hate everything about you.

i'm sorry.
i'm sorry that you've had to live this life of mine.
your body held a paper soul,

it burned over even the lightest flame...

please,
do not think that that makes you weak.

i'm sorry,
that you stand in a constant state of hesitance.
not all people are cruel, you know...

but you don't,

because the world has taught you otherwise.

i'm sorry,
because once...

once upon a sometime,
you could see only the best.
when all those who were close to you left,

so did your purpose.

the fire in your eyes sputtered out,
extinguished by the person you loved.

do not let others define you,
for that will be your downfall.

you are so much more.

i'm sorry,
because i shaped you into the person you became,
because i gave up on you so fast.

i was so eager to try to leave you behind.

i never should have tried.
i've been trying to be more personal with my poetry lately, it's giving me a sense of catharsis to be honest, its nice to not just scratch the surface.
1.7k · Jan 2018
sometimes.
Em Quinn Jan 2018
sometimes,
i smile at the mirror,
to remind myself that i can.
because i've forgotten what it feels like.

sometimes,
i spend hours repeating the same phrase in my head,
just to make sure it sounds right.
"hi... could i please have the-"
it never does.

sometimes,
i stare at the crimson lines on my wrists,
and try to convince myself that they're beautiful.
no one else thinks that though,
so why should i?

sometimes,
i check my pulse,
because i need to know that life is temporary.
i need to know that one day it'll be over.

sometimes,
i stare at my reflection,
but i don't recognize the girl looking back at me.
why is she so broken?
she follows me like a ghost.

sometimes,
the time passes so slow,
that a minute feels like a day,
and i wonder if it'll ever end.
will it ever end?

sometimes,
i wake up with tear stains on my pillow,
blood soaked sheets.
i don't remember though.
regret is not an easy feeling to deal with.

sometimes,
i watch mouths move in front of me,
but the screams in my head take up too much space.
so i hear nothing.
"can you repeat that please?"
"sorry."

sometimes,
my hands are raw and tired, scratched away to nothingness.
"how'd you get that burn?'
all i can say is that it was an accident.
was it?

sometimes...
sometimes a lot of things.
sometimes i wish i wasn't here.
sometimes my body doesn't feel like mine.
sometimes i want to cut the pain out of my body.
is that possible?
sometimes.
hi so I haven't been on here in quite a while and i just rediscovered it so here i am once again! this is about my struggles with mental health, and it means a lot to me to be honest. i still struggle every day, but i'm trying my best and i think that's what matters.
Em Quinn May 2018
its hard to write when your mind is empty,
like your brain can't put together the words right.
every time i glance at the blank page
i catch my breath,
and my eyes trail in and out of focus.
i don't know if it's out of frustration,
or whatever else,
but its like my head sinks below the water for a minute,
whenever i pick up a pen.
writing shouldn't feel like drowning, yea?
so why does it feel like drowning?

its hard to write when your hand isn't steady,
like its trying to run away from the words.
an unsteady hand is the enemy of poetry,
so i guess i can say that,
when people ask me
why i can't do the things i love anymore.
why my days are spent inside,
shades drawn.
maybe i can say that i can't see the notebook,
that's why i haven't been writing.

what i don't say
is that i don't
want
to see it.

these days, words weigh on my mind like cement.
anxiety has been extremely hard to deal with lately, so i'm very sorry for the lack of posts. dealing with life is hard sometimes, yea?
886 · Jun 2018
beautiful.
Em Quinn Jun 2018
when i was younger,
my mom would turn the mirror to me with bright eyes.

"look at my beautiful girl!"
she'd say.
her truth was the only one that mattered,
and so i'd smile,
crooked teeth and disheveled hair
because, well,
if she thought i was beautiful,
surely i was.

i'm sixteen, it's been ten years.
time has worn my confidence thin.


i can't look in the mirror anymore.
848 · Mar 2018
knuckles.
Em Quinn Mar 2018
the scars on my knuckles.

the scars on my knuckles,
pink and raw and sometimes holding little white mountains,
in which the fingers of my left hand like to climb.
at each crevice a river of deceit forms,
a new story i create.

you see-
the scars on my knuckles were made,
in a battle with a sleek white polar bear.
we faced off on an arena of ice, bearing nothing but hands as weapons.
definitely.
my palms held hurricanes,
they destroyed everything in their path.
i won, of course, but not without struggle.
plenty of struggle...

the scars on my knuckles appeared,
after having fallen into a thorn bush.
furious needles scraped away my skin and left their mark.
it was a journey to rescue a soccer ball.
clearly i was a hero,
and well-
i had used my hands... as a shield to my face.
totally did that.

a wall has formed along the border of my mind,
keeping thoughts and reality at a distance for fear of war...
of scaring them.
knuckles holding a pink sadness,
a vulnerability,
introduced to me on a red night in november.
a clenched fist sang as it rammed its sorry skin into cement.
sea foam scrubs holding me to the ground,
restraint.
a jail cell made up of kind words and soft hands.

i'm sorry.
november was a rough month.
627 · Feb 2018
my mind is a crimson sky.
Em Quinn Feb 2018
my mind is a crimson sky.
stars hidden by the red hues of summer.
clouds cannot be seen beyond the stormy chaos that is free thought.

my hands hold crumbling wheat fields.
each plant destroyed by a sun that shines too bright.
the roots are torn up along my fingertips.

my eyes carry empty oceans.
once full of life, purpose.
the corpses of dreams lay scattered along the iris,
battered by flame.

my wrists are a crime scene,
life ripped away in a single, crisp action.
hanging from each violet vein is a rope of red intention.
skin pulled by string, a tightrope of regret.

my mind is a crimson sky.
stars hidden by the red hues of summer.
clouds cannot be seen beyond the stormy chaos that is free thought.

my body is...
a landscape of colour,
a sky of regret,
a sun that destroys everything in its path.

but my mind is a crimson sky,
a beautiful sunset,
masking the truth.
i don't think much about the future anymore, its getting harder to see.
598 · Mar 2018
happier.
Em Quinn Mar 2018
if i took my life,
the clouds would continue to form,
and the earth would still spin like it always has.
every day,
millions of children would take millions of buses to millions of schools,
and no one would know my name or my story.
no one would care enough to try to learn it.

if i took my life,
they'd light a candle or two in memory,
but only for a day.
girls with fake tears would claim they cared about me.
i had never talked to them before.
still, they'd lie.

if i took my life,
every flower would continue to grow,
every tree would still stand tall.
every child would look up into their mother's eyes, just the same as always.
the world wouldn't change because of another death, another loss.
and i'd be happier.

happier than i am now, at least.
i've had a rough couple days.
567 · Feb 2018
hearing aid.
Em Quinn Feb 2018
there are...
cruel fireworks,
booming behind my back.
you seem to think that makes you better.
i think that's not right.
mistakes are made sometimes,
it comes with life.
just as a wave in the sea lasts only a few moments,
a regretful choice only takes toll as long as you let it.
so why?
i've said my apologies,
i've tried to keep moving forward.
your feet stick to conflict as if it is tar,
and your words crash in an ear that is deaf to the noise.
recently i recieved a hearing aid,
composed of a cold depression.
it looks for those words and now,
i cannot ignore them.
i'm sorry, and i'll say it a million times.
but despite this new hearing aid,
i haven't heard...
"sorry."
this is a not-so-indirect poem about the seniors at my school, who seem to think i'm the enemy.
509 · Jan 2019
scarlett.
Em Quinn Jan 2019
i always associated the colour scarlett with a brightness.
the love of valentines day or the blush filling one's cheeks on a chilly saturday.
scarlett meant life to me,
and i never thought it'd represent opposite.

scarlett was love.

scarlett was a heart shaped box of chocolates,
the sparkle of fireworks,
a can of cranberry sauce on thanksgiving day.

scarlett was optimism.

scarlett was a thank you card,
a bright balloon at a birthday celebration,
or the painted lips of a woman on a first date.

scarlett was never meant to be pain.

scarlett wasn't meant to be a sharp bracelet of numbness,
a sleeve of anger that melted into the floor,
or the cold emptiness that accompanied silver.

scarlett wasn never meant to be anger.

scarlett wasn't meant to be the screaming i hear in my head at night,
the holes in the door,
or the deep stain of aggression falling against my knuckles.

the first syllable seems to fit too well nowadays.
i'm struggling.
482 · Feb 2018
l o v e.
Em Quinn Feb 2018
you....
you were the only time,
i've ever let myself know what love feels like,
and you
d e s t r o y e d  m e.
because of   Y
                      O
                         U,
I'm afraid to feel anything but sadness.
and now my heart...
it BURNS with anger,
because the love is still here in my heart.
every.
     ******* i n g.
            moment.
you made me hate me.

you made me hate  l
                                     o
                                        v
                                           e.
but still i let you manipulate me.
480 · Feb 2018
three whole days.
Em Quinn Feb 2018
three bright summer days,
letting myself fall for you...
what a sad mistake.
i'm sorry i wasn't enough.
470 · Feb 2018
with love.
Em Quinn Feb 2018
I don't think I'm in love with him.
Not anymore, at least.
Now it's more than just him.
I think I'm in love with love.
Being in love,
Feeling loved,
Knowing that someone is there.
Holding hands in a crowded hallway
With confidence.
A kiss that wasn't a cruel dare.
Someone to wipe away tears,
Steady my breathing,
Something more.
It's just that
He was the first time I met love,
But now I feel like we're strangers.
He was the reason I pushed love away.
And now love has left me.

I've found that searching doesn't do much good.
i've been feeling quite rough the past few days...
454 · Mar 2018
anti- something.
Em Quinn Mar 2018
if you’re on drugs for a while,
you start to forget how you started.
now, when the doc asks me how the meds are,
i always say “fine.”

"i'm losing myself, but i'm fine."
something is missing but i don't know what it is.
438 · Mar 2018
a year of the cold.
Em Quinn Mar 2018
her face reminded me of winter,
beautiful and serene one moment,
cold and unforgiving the next.
upset is not enough of a word to describe what it feels to be heartbroken.
252 · Mar 2019
okay.
Em Quinn Mar 2019
i think at this point i'm okay with being broken.
it's not that i want it,
i just feel like if you're always a dissapointment, you have nothing to lose.
172 · Jan 2019
again.
Em Quinn Jan 2019
i don't feel anymore.
i don't feel the things i should be feeling,
like the sadness of grief
or the benign sense of self when you're passionate about something.
i don't feel grounded, i'm watching from the back seat
while my body makes mistakes my mind would never stand for.
******* up relationships,
******* up school,
******* up the little life i have left,
and i don't feel anything about it.
i want to feel, and so my fist slams into cement,
a dull throbbing in my joints arises,
adrenaline and anger are all that's there now,
if not only for a moment,
a second.
and i f e e l.
so i do it again,
and again,
and again,
again
again
again
A G A I N.
**** feelings.
why should i bother with these messy characters
making friends with my emotions
if i can't picture staying with them?
a girl who can't imagine making it through college
shouldn't be making connections that won't last.
i wrote this a month ago and never got around to sharing it. its pretty much just word ***** that

— The End —