Another Headline

narrative poem about a girl dealt a bad hand

From the time she was very little

Anna was dealt a bad hand,

life threw her too many curve balls

and left her barely able to get back up and stand.

 

When she was a toddler she was overlooked because

Mom and dad had her when they were young.

She was an accident baby

and never truly felt loved.

Dad would leave for days and days

after abusive arguments with mom,

and mom would pretend Anna didn't exist

and would go out to "get some".

 

As a child Anna often learned

that she had to live without-

without love and affection and care,

so she found other ways to seek it out.

She lost her virginity at 12

to a boy from her neighborhood middle school

because he said that he loved her

and that having sex would make her cool.
But the love only lasted a few weeks

and then they were done.

She felt as lonely as before

and she turned to blades and cut.

 

 

She walked around at 14

with her chin down and eyes at the floor,

and she gave it up to any boy

so the school kids called her white trash w***e.

She felt she'd never amount to anything,

she'd just be stuck in a never-ending loop

of pain and depression and nothingness

until her life was through.

She took a blade to her pale wrist

usually to ease the pain,

and did drugs to escape reality

for the rest of the day.

Diagnosed with anxiety and depression,

but her mom couldn't pay for her meds,

so she fell deeper in

until the real her was barely left.

 

At 16 she was at a party

just hanging out with her friends,

she poured herself some soda

and mixed it with gin.

She got distracted and walked away

to dance on the floor,

and when she came back to her drink

she just chugged some more.

But that's when it went blank,

her memory of that night.

She woke up naked on the bathroom floor

sore and flying like she could die.

She knew what had happened,

but couldn't believe it had happened to her,

she vowed never to tell anybody,

and kept it a secret of hers.

 

A few months after this happened

she couldn't take it anymore,

the secret buried inside of her

and ripped at her core.

She took more drugs to ease the pain,

to try to forget,

but eventually she'd come down

and just puke and feel like s**t.

She had no coping skills,

nobody had taught her how

to deal with life on lifes terms

and learn other positive ways to get out.

So finally she gave up

on her life and on her future.

She was convinced that she wouldn't be missed

and that nobody had ever loved her.

But little did she know

that she would always be loved and missed.

Now she's just another headline

of a suicidal kid.

 

 

 

Author's Note

tell me what you think

Reviews

[外人 (Gaiji..]

Wow, that's intense, passionate, full of pathos, a very well written story (it's curious that from the 4th stanza on, every period of her life you talk about has 2-years-break from the last one, 12 - 14 - 16 ...).
I'm sorry for that kid, hope she's just made up from your imagination :)

[kayla]

ya, shes an imaginary girl(: lol

[GunMetal]

I agree with maidahl about this being excellent material for a prose poem. Some of the rhymes seem to take away from the flow rather than bring the impact that rhyming should. Still it's conveys the traumatic story well. It deeply saddens me that this story is so common. I commend you. This is a tough topic to touch upon.

[Laura Maidah]

Maybe a prose poem is what I wanted to see. This makes me really bummed every time my eyes have to hit this page. The last two lines are horrendously miserable. It's still long as a traditional poem, so a prose poem would pretty much perfect this. You could try a few online mags that would accept this right now. It's that touching. Every suicidal teen should read this and realize suicide is NOT a viable option. Suicide is not weak; it's for people who think they have no other choice for love other than to hate themselves for not loving themselves. If a girl has no one else, she should be her own daughter. She can be her own friend, until love comes along. There are groups for this. Try submitting!

[Laura Maidah]

Missing commas. Weird punctuation in general. Great thematically. Tone is a little callous. Dig for the dirt. This is a particularly painful topic for me. I want this to be edited excellently. Omit all words that aren't central to resolve conflict and delivering the crux of your poem.

[Paul R. Watson]

I like what you are doing here. The rhymes dont always flow as smothly as i would like but you can adjust. Good work, needs a few touch ups but really powerful writing.

[Alicia Beavis]

"But now she's just another headline" - I'd remove the "but" in this line.

Powerful story you've penned through these poetic words.

[Emrys Realmskip]

Woah! i really loved this! it kept my attention the whole way through!
GREAT job! :)
Savvy