Poems, by yours truly :)

This morning when I received my daily 'Poem of the Day' email, I found it to be a bit odd, so I thought I'd share some of my own poems I've written in the past. To give you some background about each, here are some details:

Open Meadows: This was the first poem I had published. It was selected to appear in the Western Massachusetts Writing Project booklet, a series of literary articles and poems chosen from a select few students throughout Western Massachusetts. I presented and read this poem at the University of Massachusetts @ Amherst in 2001 when I was a freshman in high school.

The Way: This poem I wrote in memory of my dear Auntie Sue, who died from colon cancer on my 15th birthday. I actually composed this poem the night before she passed away, in hopes of reading it to her the following day as my present to her. I never got the chance to read it to her while she was alive, but I did read it in front of family and friends at her funeral, which was one of the most mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging moments of my entire life. Rest peacefully, Auntie Sue.

A Perfect World Contained: An Inside Look at Depression: During college, I had a time when I was severely depressed and found myself withdrawn from social life and trapped in my own head. I didn't have any fun my freshman year with all the new changes I was confronted with experiencing (mostly for the first time), and in my efforts to control and understand the rapidly changing and unrecognizable years ahead of me, I became consumed with the need to control my body. Thus began a struggle with an eating disorder for a number of years, from which I'm still trying to fully recover. It's a daily struggle, but I have learned a lot since then and now try to help others realize that there's more to life than appearances and looks.

Open Meadows

Days in the summer
when the violets, tulips, and daffodils bloom,
my friend and I visit the meadow's open room.

The meadow is always inviting
when the sun is shining and the sky is clear.
This is how we can sense
that the meadow wants us here.

Hand in hand, we frolic and play
Beside the flowers and lovely trees.
Together, forever, as long as we want.
That is how we know we're at ease.

As we sit down to have lunch at noon,
We try to recall
Back to the days long forgotten,
When we both were very small.

We soon begin to chat and laugh
For hours on and on
Until we realize that the moon
Has told us it is dawn.

The Way

The way you smile, the way you speak,
The way you just be you.
The way you be a mother, the way you be a wife,
The way you be my Auntie Sue.

The way you share with us your laughs,
Your pains, your smiles, your tears
The way you're going to leave us,
The way I won't know how
To say in words to your face
Why to you? And why now?

Your untimely passing will make us grieve
But we’ll be together someday
When I come to be received
By the great hand of God.
I love you.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
I wish your life could never cease to end
Its beautiful and ongoing course
Of life.

A Perfect World Contained: An Inside Look at Depression

Empty spaces fill my mind

With uncontrollable thoughts.

They flicker on and off so quickly

Fading from one to the next

In a speed that astonishes me

Zooming by like flames

Angry and aggravated by time.

Panic soon sets in

The thoughts collect,

Settle on top of one another

Rapid succession follows

Steadier, quicker, faster

Sinking beneath the weight.

They pile up like bricks,

Each one heavier than the last.

Pushing, crushing against my head.

Soon the pile falls

Knocking down what was once easily preserved.

It becomes like a domino effect

Hitting another stack of thoughts

Only for them to bend and fall.

Burning all together now

Creating fires unable to be stopped.

My body succumbs

To the devastation close at hand.

Systems shut down, lock up

Forever inaccessible.

Blockages form and tighten

Nothing is let out.

Sanity screams from beneath

Choking on the ashes

Buried alive as we speak

Cascading deeper down

To the grave where it will die.

Never will its plight be known

To those on the outside

For she suffered all alone

In the depths of her own mind

For the simple need of control.

...Again, I would LOVE any feedback - good or bad, it's always appreciated! :)