staring at the blank page
i find myself thinking
quite low of myself.

wondering to myself
absently muttering out loud
as if adding more sound
to the white noise
will give me a sense of validation
that i still exist.

the hum of the laptop
and turquoise hexagon sun
mixes with the sound
of the car doors closing outside
and the people sitting
in their chairs, lazing about
staring at the television screens

what else can i hear?
closing my eyes, i stop
taking a moment
to let my worried mind rest
forgetting about my financial crisis
to bathe in the sound
of my silence.

with my eyes closed
i type with confidence
i don't fear my words
when i can't see them
my eyes feel hot
under my dark eyelids
as heavy as they are
i am surprised i don't
slouch and fall into slumber
right here in my chair.

in the second it takes
to flutter open my eyes
and reread the words i just wrote
i have to remember
to stop myself before i nitpick
and change what came
from my heart
and at the time felt right.

if only
i went through life like this more often
then maybe i wouldn't feel so down
or ******* myself
because honestly i'm not that bad
nor am i as dumb
or silly as i feel
and maybe next time
when i go ice skating
i won't be such a little *****
about how i look to other people.

four years ago
my freshman year
i met a boy with dark blue eyes
who added me on myspace
and chatted with me on aim

he didn't really speak to me
or ask me any questions
he only knew what he did
because i talk so much

and somehow
we started dating
which i still don't understand why
because after the first week
i had a feeling in my gut
that i would regret this
in the long run.

we felt the high
and the ecstasy of first love
along with first everything else
including betrayal and agony
the only kind you can feel
when someone you thought
you love does something so
so awful to you.

the first winter we were happy
i think and we made plans for next year
that we broke the majority of
and in the summer we made promises
some that i shouldn't have

a year had passed
and i thought i would
be spending a few more with him
but that winter
i learned that love can grow cold
and freeze over

maybe i had changed too much
or it was him belittling me
telling me that everything i liked
was childish
and a waste of time.

the next year
i had decided that
that would be all i would put up with
i did not deserve this grief
or to be told that
i was too easy.

a friend that morning
had spoken with me and him
and walked with us through the halls
of the beginning of our junior year
and when we were alone
the friend said to me
'your eyes look so dead'

and i will never
forget those words
or forget
his cries on the phone
that night
when i finally
set myself
free

i suffered from
a disease called
depression.

it started when my
mother left
because she wasn't in love

and i was the only
one around
to feel his rage.

a few months later
that was when
i was done

i told the guidance counselor
that i was ready
and she asked me if i was sure

"without a doubt
if i am not stopped
you won't see me tomorrow"

and she called him
explaining the dangers and
sent me home.

the only thing
he was worried about
was how people saw him

what people were
going to think
when they heard the news.

how could he have
a dysfunctional daughter
when he is so perfect?

i was sent to counseling
and like i expected
it didn't help.

she was kind
but with her religion
she tried to show me new light

and don't get me wrong
there's nothing bad about it
but it's just not my style

and with her christianity
i could never fully
express how i felt.

while i didn't mind
wasting his money
i ended it early

"yes of course i'm better
no longer do i wish
to slit my wrists".

the next month
i did just that

he's like a disease
stuck in my mind
his constant abuse
yelling in the back of
my brain

i cut and tear
and pull and
try to rip it out
drain my blood
and give to others
in hopes to create
something pure

i just want
the words gone
i don't want to
listen to this abuse
anymore

it's been two years
since i've left him
so why can i
still hear it

i thought that
maybe if i cleaned
my insides
the words would
disappear
but

they haven't and
some days
it ruins me

i wish i didn't have
to be the parent
of my mother

i wish i didn't have
to constantly listen to her
complaints about how
her husband doesn't
satisfy her needs

i wish i didn't have
to listen to her cry
and feel the pain
she feels because
it hurts me too

i wish i didn't have
to be the punching bag
for all of her grief
because i have enough already

i wish i didn't feel
so selfish
for wishing all of this

he would sit in his room
and draw space ships
that could only be described
as something from star wars
or star trek

and he'd do geometry on the floor
his school books scattered
and punk music
would be playing on his
boom box

game informers stacked high
in tens and twenties
all over his bookcase
cozy against star wars
and hardy boys

the wood frame bed
simple and pure
until tainted by a name
of his first love
scratched in with passion
and heartbreak

he lied quite often
and was a sore loser
his mood usually consisted of
being short fused
and even more short fused

and then he moved
left for good
not visiting for another three years
and then three more after that
each time
he gets older
and less of the thirteen year old
i had known
when he lived
at home

since i was a child
i felt like i didn't fit in
with all the other
children

i didn't understand
the way they worked
i couldn't wrap my mind
around the way
their minds
worked

and i'd hate to sound pretentious
or as if i'm better than them
because i spent my time reading
and lying about the boys
that didn't actually
throw my flip flops in
the water

i'm not sure
why i wanted their attention
or their approval
and i'm not sure
why i even wanted their friendship
since we never
had anything
in common

but this begs another question
that i can't answer either
which upsets me greatly
and constantly has me asking
"what if"

if i hadn't cared
what the others thought
in middle school
would i have
'gone steady'
with the boy everyone
made fun of
even though i thought
he was cute

but that's all right
because i am glad
with where things are
in my life right now
even if i sometimes
spend nights thinking
about all of those what ifs
because my brain somehow
can't shut off
with all of its
white noise
and troubling thoughts