Land Ho

The poem portrays a person concealing their emotions behind a happy facade, while reminiscing about a past romance as a source of comfort.

Her world consisted of darkness and horrid thoughts.

She melted on the frigid bathroom tiles, hunched over, her mind full of twisted knots.

Her coal-colored hair was soaked and plastered on her face like an octopus’s suffocating tentacles.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and tear stains formed on her spectacles.

Her cat sat close as she, too, felt the weight of the room.

Then she began to sob like she had lost her most precious heirloom.

She cried herself a river. 

She cried herself a pond. 

She cried herself a lake. 

She cried on and on.

She cried herself an ocean. Then she cried herself four. 

She drowned in her notions and the soggy tissues littering the floor.

But then the birds started to chirp, and the sky began to lighten. 

She stitched herself back together with a thin, unstable line made of cotton.

She stowed away her emotions.

She moped dry the oceans.

She changed into a personality that was more amiable and likable.

She composed a false smile and the most realistic fake laugh she could.

She pretends the things they say and the jokes they make don’t hurt.

She pretends she doesn’t like him and he doesn’t like her.

She pretends she’s okay with going from “fun to be around” to “annoying asf.”

However, she still sees him as the shining ball of light.

She floats atop her troubles on the goldfish he gave her.

She builds land with the chemistry that they made together.

She stables herself with a pair of crutches made of all the good times they share.

But she still wonders…

Does he think of her as much as she thinks of him during her prayers?

Author's Note

how do you feel after reading this?