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Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
"Mom, my depression is a shape-shifter.
One day it is as small as a firefly in the palm of a bear,
the next, it's the bear.
On those days I play dead until the bear leaves me alone.
I call the bad days the "dark days".
Mom says, "Try lighting candles."
But when I see a candle, I see the flesh of a church,
the flicker of a flame,
sparks of a memory younger than noon.
I am standing beside her open casket.
It it the moment that I learn every person I ever come to know will someday die.
Besides Mom, I'm not afraid of the dark,
perhaps that's part of the problem.
Mom says, "I thought the problem was that you can't get out of bed?"
I can't.
Anxiety hold me a hostage inside of my house,
inside of my head.
Mom says, "Where did anxiety come from?"
Anxiety is the cousin visiting from out of town
depression felt obligated to being to the party.
Mom, I am the party.
Only I am a party I don't want to be at.
Mom says, "Why don't you try going to actual parties? See your friends."
Sure, I make plans.
I make plans, but I don't wanna go.
I make plans because I know I should want to go,
I know sometimes I would have wanted to go,
It's just,
Not that much fun having fun when you don't want to have fun, Mom.
You see mom, each night Insomnia sweeps me up in his arms,
dips me in the kitchen in the small glow of the stove-light.
Insomnia has this romantic way of making the moon feel like perfect company.
Mom says, "Try counting sheep."
But my mind can only count reasons to stay awake at night.
So, I go for walks,
but my stuttering kneecaps clank like silver spoons held in strong arms with loose wrists,
they ring in my ears like clumsy church bells, reminding me that I am sleepwalking on an ocean of happiness that I cannot baptize myself in.
Mom says, "Happy is a decision."
But my happy is as hollow as a pin pricked egg.
My happy is a high fever that will break.
Mom says I am so good at making something out of nothing and then flat our asks me if I am afraid of dying.
No!
I am afraid of living!
Mom, I am lonely!
I think I learned when dad left how to turn the anger into lonely, the lonely into busy,
so, when I say I've been super busy,
I mean I've been falling asleep watching Sports Center on the couch to avoid confronting the empty side of my bed.
But depression always drags me back to my bed until my bones are forgotten fossils of a skeleton sunken city.
My mouth a boneyard of teeth broken from biting down on themselves.
The hollow auditorium of my chest swoons with echoes of a heartbeat,
but I am a careless tourist here.
I will never truly know everywhere that I have been.
Mom still doesn't understand.
Mom!
Can't you see,
that neither can I?"


This poem does not belong to me, full rights credited to the rightful owner, Sabrina Benaim.
All rights go to Sabrina Benaim, the original author of this poem.
75 · Oct 2018
Untitled #24
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I'm struggling to love you
and let you go
at the same time.
73 · May 2018
Untitled #4
Marissa Calderon May 2018
Tidal wave after tidal wave
The pain rushes over me like water
And I'm scared
Because you know my worst fear is drowning
But I'm drowning in you
In your brown eyes
That once held so much love for me
But now they're empty
My arms that once held you
Now only hold onto the hope that maybe
Just maybe
You won't leave
I pushed you away
Yes
But now that I'm broken
Now that you see
Can't you tell how bad I wanted us
Because I did
I do
But maybe we were never meant to be
Or maybe God is ashamed of me
Because I'm thinking with my head
Not my heart
Because my head's a little ****** up
Actually a lot
But my heart's always been broken
So I'm left to wonder
Did I ever have a chance
Were we ever really meant to last
Or was this just some sick joke the universe pulled for laughs
Because I'm not laughing
No
I'm crying
Because losing you should be the last thing I'd have to go through
Because I love you
I love you so much
But I need help
I need to get better
Because if not
You'll be visiting my grave
Not me
It's like some old wise *** once said
"Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until they're 70"
Well I died at 6
Fast forward 10 years
I'm still waiting
I'm still waiting
73 · Oct 2018
Untitled #16
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I just want to be happy.
Is that too much to ask for?
Well, I guess it is for me
because my heart still remains
shattered on the floor.

Well, at least what is left of this heart
that was never never whole in the beginning.
Because I gave it away to people who never deserved it,
and lost yet again in a game
that I never end up winning.
72 · Oct 2018
Untitled #14
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I can't quite comprehend how I am supposed to move on with the loss of you. You are in everything I see, everything I do.

No matter where I'm at, or what I am doing...
I'm always drawn back to you.

It's you.

Always.

You.
71 · Aug 2019
Untitled #33
Marissa Calderon Aug 2019
For whoever reads this,

The first person I ever loved was not myself, but him, and maybe that was my biggest mistake.

I learned to love the dimple on his cheek, and the lines under his eyes when he smiled.
I learned to love the way his eyes turned angry when we yelled at each other, to love the way his hands tightened around my arms.
I loved the way his lips lingered on my skin after begging me to peel off my layers of my clothes.
I dug up every little piece of who he was, and planted it inside my heart.
I kept love for him everywhere I went, and even when he left me, my heart was still full.
I had put so much effort into loving him, that I forgot to love myself.
I saw no beauty unless the beauty I saw was his eyes, I saw no greater happiness, than when I saw his smile.

So, whenever I looked in the mirror, I felt numb, I felt hate.

I could not love the way my hair got wavy when it was damp, even though I always twirled pieces of his hair in my fingers.
I could not feel sweet melancholy when tears ran down my face, but I could when I wiped away his.
I could not get undressed and look at my skin, because it was only worth looking at when he looked.

I could not love myself, because I thought it was supposed to be fulfilled by someone else.

I had become nothing but a daisy, waiting for my petals to be picked, he loves me, he loves me not.

I only ever felt love, when it was given to me by someone else.
I could not feel love if it was given to me by myself.

I could only love me when he loved me, but now he doesn't.

He loves her.
69 · Oct 2018
Untitled #11
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
It's easier to be angry at someone
then to tell them you're hurt.
68 · Oct 2018
Heaven and Hell
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
Heaven is real.
- I've seen it with you.

Hell is real.
- I'm living in it.
68 · Nov 2018
Again and again
Marissa Calderon Nov 2018
I give myself to you
again and again

You break me
again and again

I love you
again and again

I miss you
again and again

I cherish you
again and again

I protect you
again and again

You say you love me
again and again

And I am made whole
again and again
68 · Dec 2020
Untitled #53
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
He was my person.

The one who made me feel vulnerable
and indestructible at the same time.
The one I would die for,
and die without.
68 · Feb 2018
Earth Angel
Marissa Calderon Feb 2018
One day years ago, heaven called
a special earth angel to the sky.
It's been 16 years
and I still wonder why.

Big brother,
we never got the chance to meet
but without a doubt
I still love you.

You'll always be
my motivation
and I'll never put
anyone above you.

Just the thought of you watching
me from above makes me smile.
I haven't smiled this hard
in a while.

It's hard to smile knowing you
aren't here to celebrate too,
but the only reason I'm smiling
is because of you.

I love you.
66 · Oct 2018
Untitled #21
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
Stop pretending life doesn't absolutely terrify you.
64 · Apr 2022
Untitled #54
Marissa Calderon Apr 2022
It would be so easy to fall in love with you again.
63 · Oct 2018
Untitled #13
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
so I wiped my eyes,
held my head up,
and pointed both middle fingers in the air.

"**** this *******"

I announced with pride.
60 · Oct 2018
Untitled #18
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I'm drowning
under the waves
of all the things
I'm dying to say
to you
60 · Oct 2018
19th
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
Today is the 19th.
This number will always hold a special place in my heart.
It's the day we got together.

I'm in a room by myself crying.
Because you took your love away.
But I still love you.
Always have. Always will.

You asked me today.. what was wrong.
I tried to hide it away, afraid to say how I really feel.
But when I told you the truth..
You brushed me aside.

So I guess this is it now.
I lost you.
I lost one of the most important people in my life.
One of the only people that has ever actually mattered.


I'm crying.
I'm sorry.
I love you!
But you don't love me..

not anymore.
59 · Dec 2020
Untitled #52
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
Maybe I loved you in another life
and promised I'd find you on the other side.
59 · Oct 2018
Untitled #7
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
"Break my heart.
Break it a thousand times if you like.
It was only ever yours to break anyway."

It's true, you know.
My heart has only ever belonged to you.
Even in all of its messy,
torn up,
worn down glory.
It has only ever been yours.
I have only ever been yours.
So please forgive me for not being able to let you go so easily.
I have not had to imagine a life without you for 3 years.
Instead, I have only ever dreamt of a life that involved you.
I never thought I'd ever live a life without you.
I have tears in my eyes right now as I type,
because I miss you.
And I know you're not dead,
you're still here,
but you're not.
I just can't sit here and hold everything in.
That's what gets me so deep into that darkness.
and I don't wanna be back there.
I don't wanna go back to that demon in my head.
the one that looks exactly like me
but worse
she's not alive, she's long gone and dead
I can't go back to that please!
Please don't bring her back!
I've spent years trying to escape her
and the second I reach the sunlight
I'm dragged back in to this world
this dark
empty
hateful
wretched place
and I don't wanna be here anymore
I don't wanna be sad
I don't wanna **** myself
I don't wanna cut
I DON'T WANT TO HURT
PLEASE
DON'T MAKE ME
I'M SO SORRY
PLEASE
Please
don't send me back
I love you
please don't let me go
please
please

please
56 · Oct 2018
The Garden
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
All the flowers you planted in me.

Roses, daisies, sunflowers.

They were all so beautiful.

But they lacked something.

They must have?

Why else would you have left me?

A pointless arrangement of flowers.

And then I seen her.

And I realized it.

Because although you thought flowers were beautiful,

She had an entire garden for you to wonder.

Why couldn't I be your garden?

Instead, I am a useless array of flowers.

And now they have decayed.

Because I no longer have your love.
55 · Oct 2018
Untitled #20
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
And perhaps
the reason we cherish photos so much
is because they never change
even when the people in them do,
and that is truly beautiful
55 · Oct 2018
Untitled #9
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I've just told you that you don't love me... and I'm waiting on a reply.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was never enough for you, and I'm sorry that you have always deserved better, but I tried, okay? I tried to be the best for you. I tried to be the best version of me, but I still don't know who that is or what she is like, all I know is that she has to exist. Somewhere. Somehow. She has to. Because I know that there is the worst of me, so there has got to be the best of me too. I can't keep living this way. I can't keep pretending to be someone that I'm not. I cannot continue being everyone's second thought, never their first. I can't keep waking up and hating myself. It feels like I wake up with God on speed dial, but he's ignoring my calls. I send him texts like, "Hey God, I know that you're busy and all, but could you maybe help me out here? Send me a sign of what I am supposed to do because I'm lost. I'm hurting. I love you. Thank you." And then an hour goes by, and I figure he's just busy. Then the day's gone, and then the week. Now it's months later and I'm still receiving the voicemail. God, can't you see I'm in pain. The bible says that "God loves all of his children" but if that's true, why aren't you answering me? I'm sorry to be questioning you and your presence in my life, but the devil has a tight hold on me right now. He has for years now, but I always run back to you, and I'm so blessed that you open your arms for me every single time. God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I know you have bigger plans for me, but I am not living up to them right now. God, I'm so so sorry. I'm sorry, and I understand if you're ashamed of me. I understand if you feel anger towards me, or you hate me. Because I do too. Most days I forget to count the blessings you've given me, and all I do is focus on the bad so God, PLEASE GRAB ME AND PULL ME BACK IN. I AM SO LOST WITHOUT YOU. I LOVE YOU. I'M SORRY.
54 · Dec 2020
Silence
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
Everything is always broken by silence.
Punctuated by silence. Ended by silence.
52 · Oct 2018
Untitled #23
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
He was her deranged fantasy-
and she was his beautiful sin
52 · Jul 2020
Color
Marissa Calderon Jul 2020
Someone stole my color today.
My vibrance is missing, it's gone away.
I don't know what else to say
because someone stole my color today.

My red is gone, orange and yellow too.
I'm already missing their warm hue.
I can't find green, I can't find blue
Somebody help! I don't know what to do!

Please tell me they're hiding!
Please say that I'm lying!
I don't want to keep on writing
about my lost colors-
Am I crying?

What if purple's gone astray?
Or maybe indigo just lost its way?
I feel as if I'm starting to decay.
Wait, when did everything turn to gray?

...

I'm finding it hard to keep myself at bay.
This is so much more than I can take.
I didn't choose to be black, white and gray

but someone stole my color today.
50 · Oct 2018
Untitled #17
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
I hate you for making me
love you
and then leaving
49 · Jun 2020
Pay attention.
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
LOVE IS NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO DESERVE.
48 · Oct 2018
Untitled #19
Marissa Calderon Oct 2018
Here I am  

The heartbroken girl
who craved to love
and be loved
in return
45 · Dec 2020
Untitled #51
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
There was a silence between us.
Frustrated, angry gazes burning one another
like water never seemed to exist.
Like air stopped,
and the temperature only ever raised.
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
I want to be hopelessly in love with someone.
And I know, I'm probably not destined to be anything more than a friend to anyone, but I can't stop making up scenarios in my head in which someone, someday would love me back.
I get it if I'm not supposed to have that.
God knows I'm messed up in all the wrong places,
but I know this haphazard heart of mine could love someone.
I could love someone so purely and raw.
I could if given the chance!

...will someone give me the chance?
42 · Dec 2020
Untitled #50
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
fall in love with strangers on the subway
and watch as they leave without even a whisper of goodbye.
don't cry dear.
this is not the first time you'll learn to let love go.
40 · Feb 2020
Untitled #37
Marissa Calderon Feb 2020
a cry for help.
                                                           ­                                                people
who were
                                                            ­                          touched
                         because of the actions of
                                             people.
              tragic.                                    ­                           unnecessary.



a young
                         girl.



                                                    she is ten years old.
                                    she is moody.
she is sad.
       she is angry.                                                           ­  because he
                                                        takes.­



                                                             ­                       why?

                                    ­                                                                 ­      suicide
   is the result
38 · Jul 2020
Untitled #45
Marissa Calderon Jul 2020
I'd rather listen to your story than attend your funeral.
38 · Feb 2020
Untitled #38
Marissa Calderon Feb 2020
she wants
                                                                               depression.



she is gambling with death.                                                                 she
                                                        believes                the
            empty pill bottle is
                                                                                            her wish.


                                                                 the girl may
lose the gamble.


                 suicide                                  is not
                           the
                                            way.
                                                                                         suicide
         may manipulate
                                                               others
                                                  thinking

                                                                            one can be master.


                                         suicide.
37 · Apr 2020
Untitled #39
Marissa Calderon Apr 2020
I am grieving you.
Someone I once knew.
A person.
But my person, no more.

We were rare, a thing of beauty.
Our love was striking.
And when we loved each other,
we loved most ardently.

But like all good things, we too must come to an end.

It does not erase what we had.
Our devotion to one another still exists.
It is buried in the past,
along with every caress of the skin.
and your hands interlocked in mine,
making promises we never could keep.

The flavor of our long forgotten love still linger on my lips,
begging to be spoken, to be tasted.
But, alas, it will have to suffer a bittersweet death.
I will introduce it to a permanent sleep.
It's new bed a grave.

Thank you.
And goodbye.
35 · Dec 2020
Untitled #49
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
We were stagnant in our bodies
while the world around us changed,
and we stayed the same.
34 · Dec 2020
Weather
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
So, what now?


Are you going to critique the weather?

Harass the clouds?

Make fun of thunder for being off key?


Are you going to dissect lightning
for not beating the ground
the way you would?


You never appreciated the beauty of storms
and I guess it's because the hurricane in you won't allow it.
32 · Dec 2020
Damaged Goods
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
He was a damaged
amongst the damaged,
and that made him feel less damaged.
32 · Jul 2020
Untitled #44
Marissa Calderon Jul 2020
Life is not breathing. It's the moments that take your breath away,
31 · Dec 2020
Untitled #48
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
I realized we were always meant to crash and burn
when I wanted to wrap myself around you like a tree.
30 · Dec 2020
Untitled #47
Marissa Calderon Dec 2020
There will come a day
when you realize...
that you have more yesterdays..
than tomorrow's.

And that
is completely
terrifying.
28 · Jul 2020
Untitled #46
Marissa Calderon Jul 2020
I have a secret to share with you.



The pain will go away when it's done teaching,
27 · Jun 2020
I love too..
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
You see, the thing is..
I think I love too much.

People.

Places.

Possessions.

I love so hard that letting go seems nearly impossible.

A year could go by and my love would still be as fierce and powerful as it's first ignition of flames.. and that flame would grow into a raging fire swallowing everything in it's path.

How could something so beautiful be so destructive?

I don't know, but I understand that
this is just the way I love.

A gift or a curse, I cannot say.

I love with a love that is more than love.


Does that make me a good lover?
25 · Jun 2020
Who am I..?
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
I'm a combination of all the people I've met
and all that I've experienced.

Inside, I hold the laughter of my friends,
the arguments of my parents,
the wondering of small children,
and the warmth of kind strangers.

I am embellished with stitches from broken hearts,
bitter thoughts of the lost and broken,
and the playlists you cry to at 3 am.

My bones are cut from words and steel.
My veins flow with the dreams of visionaries.
I am made from all those people and all those moments.

That is who I am.
24 · Jun 2020
Untitled #41
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
You're hoping if you spin the chamber enough times,
you'll catch the bullet.

I'll bite the bullet and cough up the shell.

We are not the same.
24 · Jun 2020
Untitled #42
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
All it takes is one second... and it's a lifetime.
21 · Jun 2020
Untitled #40
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
Forgive me.

I am still learning to love the parts of myself no one claps for.
18 · Jun 2020
Untitled #43
Marissa Calderon Jun 2020
A lot of times we lose our minds so we can find ourselves.

— The End —