& I’m sitting on the library floor drinking a nasty spinach smoothie
like this will save me
like if I can clean my insides out with some $6 health drink
maybe it will reach the parts of me I’ve been digging dirt out of since I was 13
& the truth is I didn’t even ask for spinach in my smoothie
but now I’ve got it
maybe the smoothie lady is trying to tell me to stop being so self destructive
& I know the truth is she’s messed up like 5 orders before mine but sometimes
it’s nice to believe in signs
or omens
or things happen for a reason
it’s nice to think someone wants me to get better
library floor spinach smoothie
at least I am still functional
only a little late to class
only partially hiding in the bookshelves
I mean the place my depression chose to sit is half empty of books
& I can see everyone but at least they are not looking at me
I mean the places my depression chooses to sit are always in plain sight
but no one ever looks
or once I told my mom I wanted to die and she told me to get ready for school
I think a lot about how maybe my depression isn’t bad enough
once my dad told me about a man who’s depression was way worse than mine
I have heard so many well intentioned words that all mean “stop complaining”
hey dad I don’t think most people who kill themselves actually spend all day in bed but I’ll dig a grave out of every crevice of my body if it will make you understand I have been breathing in dirt faster than I can spit it out
my mouth is a shovel & my brain – a mudslide
I mean I will keep talking about this until I drown in my own grave
or leaves bloom from my tongue
as long as I cannot forget
you cannot either
& if no one hears me at least I will have created a garden to the sound of “someday”
to the sound of “today I am still here”
sun on the horizon
laughing butterflies out of my stomach
if poetry is healing then let this be my prayer
let me spill enough pain into words that someone remembers what I say
for all the days we are depressed enough for people to notice
we are still alive
for all the days screams feel like whispers
I am writing this poem in the hopes of postponing my own burial
but anyways you should probably know
I always wanted to grow into a tree when I die &
they can do that now ya know
there are forests full of second chances
Poems 