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 Sep 2013 Katie
J
Sad.
 Sep 2013 Katie
J
I cry because happiness is a harder concept to grasp than sorrow.
Because sorrow greets me as an old friend.
Fondly reminding me of my mistakes,
my flaws, and my current inner desolation.
Reminding me of how I failed
and how I cannot fix my mistakes.
While we reminisce over a bottle of melancholia
and a plate of regret.

Leaving me with yet another notch on my belt
of nights I cried myself to sleep
People pass you by because
pretending everything is alright is more
convenient than noticing they are broken.
They are the people that hide their silent tears
at the back of a closet and bury broken smiles
into the corner of a sock drawer.
But soon …There won’t be enough room
for the hidden emotions that you think are irrelevant
and can be dealt with another day,
soon every emotion you hid will come out of the closet
and show its face in the most unpleasant way.
Tears. You can’t escape them.
I cry because she cries,
my best friend, drowning in her own sorrow,
I cannot help but drown with her.
For what is a friend if that friend will not jump
into the murky depth we call depression, sinking ever deeper?
At least we sink together.
Treading conformity, stress, humiliation,
we tread together.
As we sink deeper, we try to grasp
at the bubbles of happiness escaping our lips,
somehow bring them back.
We can’t, because once they’re lost no amount
of pretending can give us the air we sorely need
or the fake smiles to get by without question, day by day.
But at least, we drown together.
So many times I have looked out to a warm sunset
and felt chilled to the bone.
Because if I let go of the railing, life would go on.
Because if I did not exist right now nothing
in the world would change.
It would just erase any memory of all the ***** ups
I collected like stamps and baseball cards.
Because no amount of blankets and soothing words
can warm the icy thought in the back of my head
whispering in the persuasive voice of a friend, “What’s the point?”
I cry for the people who don’t think they matter,
who think that turning to something
to relieve their pain will fix it.
I cry for the people who think
killing themselves will make them feel alive.
For the people who get lost trying to find themselves.
For the people who put on a mask
desperately waiting for someone to see through it.
And for the people who cut themselves
trying to become whole.
Breaking themselves down bit by bit,
holding all the pieces,
and waiting for someone to put them back together.

I cry because this entire explanation is just eloquently realizing that

I am sad.
 Sep 2013 Katie
sw
What in the world
Were you thinking
That night when you
Stuck a bookmark between
My effort and trust?

Did you try to read my brown eyes
Through her lighter lens?
Did you truly convince yourself
Her thin hair was as thick as mine?
Did you mark my scattered freckles
Onto her blank-sheet cheeks?
Did you manage to feel my crooked spine
As you mindlessly reached for hers?

I hope you have
studied me for
memory's sake;
My every word and
The lines of my palms--
for that's all you will have of me.
I will close my pages, and
you can't cheat with
a book that has
all the wrong answers.

Keep this in mind
the next time
you're with
her
and I'm

*gone.
Wrote this at 1:49am, unable to sleep. I like to handle situations in ways that will make me stronger, but sometimes I just wonder what the hell I'm even doing.
 Sep 2013 Katie
Emily Tyler
It was supposed to be fun.

New school, new supplies,
Thin, neon highlighters glowing inside
Vera Bradley backpacks.

Skinny folders assigned to
Pointless subjects,
Which would be fattened
With pointless homework
By the end of the day.

It was supposed to be fun,
And for a little while, I forgot.

I forgot until History.

The new teacher hadn't lived here
Longer than a week,
Which was why he was
Excited
About teaching.

He had on a brand new tie
From Banana Republic
Which was obviously tied
By his wide eyed fiance.

His classroom was bare, as he explained,
"Don't worry,
I ordered posters yesterday."

The teacher wasn't the problem.

The problem was,
Between Richardson
And Roberts,
He still existed.

At least in the school system he did.

"Ashley Paulette?"
"-Here."
"Abby Richardson?"
"-Here."
"Bennett Rill?"

And my life shattered all over again.

The silence felt
Deafening.

Remembering how he wouldn't be there.
Not ever.

"Bennett Rill?"

The teacher was confused, looking around the room
For someone
Who was buried six feet under.
Someone who the teacher might've thought
Was sick, or vacationing.

It was supposed to be fun.
But then I remembered
One of my really good friends, Bennett, died on the last day of school last year. There are more poems about him on my page.
 Sep 2013 Katie
AM
The mask
 Sep 2013 Katie
AM
I see you in the parking lot
Sitting in your car with your eyes shut, head bobbing
As your music rattles your windows
And you explore the cavern of your mind

I want so badly to offer you a light

You feel me watching, feel reality encompass you
You awake from your trance
And you put on your mask

You are so sure that this mask will keep away the pain
But I see your demons clawing at it, begging to be set free

I've seen you
The you behind the mask
You have shed it before me many times
But as soon as I glimpse your naked face
And you see it reflected in my eyes
Vulnerable
Broken
You don your mask again and ask me never to speak of what I've seen
 Sep 2013 Katie
AM
We drove with the music off and the windows down
Whispers of fall crept into the car and the sound of the pavement rushing under the tires murmured in the background
Our minds were buzzing with nicotine and wonder as we ventured into one another's intricate networks of thoughts
We became closer to escaping our own minds as we became lost in each other's
You began to read your poetry and I watched you in my rear view mirror as you read
You read with such passion and listening to you, with the murmur of the pavement, the music off, and the cool air tossing about the wisps of hair that had escaped the confines of my braid
I felt peaceful
 Sep 2013 Katie
Dogfood Williams
she’s kind of like a ghost
in that she’ll float in and out of the room
and touch the clock
that is so silly now

she’s kind of like a ghost
because she’s often
scared and lost
and she disappears
when you touch her

she’s kind of like a ghost
that I want to help
with her unfinished
business
but she can’t hear me say
her name

she’s kind of like a ghost
of a little girl who just needs
a friend

she’s kind of like a ghost
that dances with me under
that sheet she’s wearing

she’s kind of like a ghost
who can see how transparent
I am too

she’s kind of like a ghost
and I will wait for days
in the same spot
to see her pass through just
once

she’s kind of like a ghost
that makes me want to die
so I can maybe hold her
hand

she’s kind of like a ghost
and people tell me ghosts
aren’t real
This is a much older poem, almost over a year.
 Sep 2013 Katie
Dogfood Williams
onion ******
as a stress relief
salt from your holes
to salt the wound
you can't take yourself
too seriously
I can't take myself
anywhere without spilling some
salt

there's no carbon in salt
but I feel awfully human
and awfully awful
pass the salt down the
table and out the ****
window because unless I do
I'll be writing about
you forever
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