My Phone explodes with text after text
People wondering who and what's next
What party is that? Who's boyfriends is this?
An destructive illusion of bliss
Be careful for you might miss
The noises, the voices, creating a cacophony of choices
Hang with them, joke about serious things
But all this fake ******* brings
Is plastered smiles and fake laughter
But no one knows what goes on after,
After I leave the party, the hang out, the game , school
I close my bedroom door and the tears began to pool
I can't keep up
But i can't give in
Because then my mind wins
And it is a dangerous game
For the mind cannot be tamed
It is wild, thoughts running free
Over and over engulfing me
In bubble Of doubt and self loathe
The sadness becoming my cloths
wrapping me up, all nice and tight
I won't put up a fight
So I relish in my loneliness with delight
It is there where I can rest
No texts, no parties, no tests
Nothing can touch me but my emptiness
And though it be sad
It really isn't bad
Because i don't have to wear a mask
Force laughter
Fake a smile
I think I'll stay here for a while
This is what happens when your mind gets to tired and broken
Listen to these words I have spoken
Bipolar, depression, and anxiety ****
They cannot be fixed by just taking a pill
Kids, adults, and teenagers need to be to educated about these things
And what we can bring
To the table of ideas and research
It is absurd
To think that these things are a "phase"
It's time we call it what it is
Not inncocent
Or pretty
But harsh and gritty
It is more than a thing, it is a condition
And I am a witness of this
Pandemic of Mental Illness

By Kennedy Grace Woodard

There's a difference betwen running
And trying to put something behind you

You sat beside me and spoke so sweetly
Let your hands run up my back ever so discreetly
I felt you dancing along my vertebrae
To the tunes of your own words that mould like clay
It took all of me to lift my sleeves
And show you my scars, the reason why everyone leaves
You titled your head to get a better view
Pointed out every dark depressant hue
Then you let your tongue slip
To tell me they're not the wreckage of skin, shadow and ship
That they're not remotely close to how bad they could be
Little did you know how much those scratches mean to me
You spoke of a girl you once knew
Like a Broadway play acting on cue
Mine were nothing compared to hers
In your words, mine are like nicks from spurs
You left me blowing in an empty breeze
While I whirl around like branches falling from trees
Nicks and cuts becoming apparent
My chest transforming transparent
Now I sit curled in a blood soaked bed sheet
Unwillingly trying to compete
Keeping my bones warm
While emulating thoughts swarm
To think you were going to be the one to make my bed
To think you were going to be the place to rest my head
As if I don't hate my inflections enough
You turned into a wolf and puffed and huffed
Blowing me down like a house made of straw
Then you sat back and laughed as I crawled
Letting the stones cut my upper thigh
You asked me what it feels like to die
I told you that it feels a lot like this
And those tiny little nicks shouldn't be dismissed
Because every wound bleeds
It's a part of sufferings deed
And soon enough they'll bleed you dry
By then it sure won't help to cry
You will be the death of me
And only then will you see
That those nicks and cuts mean so much to me
And that they are as bad as they could be