The Many Shapes Of Misery

Pain comes in countless forms and unexpected ways.

From your mind because you are clinically depressed,
And the only hope is a blade to your wrist.
From your own body which causes you hate,
Because you have too much where you shouldn’t and not enough where you should.
From your expectations that ironically are set up by others,
You feel like you can’t do it therefore you don’t.
From social conformity,
If I want acceptance then I should morph myself into what others like.
From other people who make it their duty to highlight your insecurities,
They laugh at your Jewish nose, your black clothes, your sexual orientation, and your imperfections.

But this just leads us to the same place.

You cut yourself because that’s the only way to alleviate pain,
The split of your skin takes you to a place you can’t live.
You tug and pull with hate on the excess of your weight,
You call yourself names that connate to rage,
You starve yourself again and again,
Until you’re dead.
You suddenly assume you can’t do anything at all,
Just because you can’t do the one thing people want.
Hey it’s cool so I should do it right?
I should snort this coke, I should wear these clothes, and say these things because I want to be normal.
While others call me names and hate the way I look,
I look for ways to fix it because that’ll make them stop right?

Now we all feel the same pain but we all deal with it differently.

Stephanie’s mother found out she’s a cutter,
Now she has a different doctor but she’s still not okay.
Mathew binged and purged day after day,
All those bullies at school are now crying at his grave.
Monica failed law school something she never loved,
Her family disowned her and now she’s gone.
Jenny did it right,
She went to college, married the right guy, had children and has a nice house,
But she feels so alone because she didn’t do what she wanted for herself.
Katie couldn’t stand those bullies anymore,
So when she graduate high school she made it her duty to change,
She’s been through so many plastic surgeries,
That she died at a young age.

These things that cause us pain shouldn’t.

Use your mind to create and not perfect,
Use your body as a canvas and your life as a painting,
Use your own expectations to help you achieve your dreams,
Use conformity as the thing you don’t want ever want to be,
Use your imperfections as the things that make you perfect,
And don’t ever forget to use your heart because that’ll keep you humane.

Comments

marie

I really enjoy the alternating stanza lengths, and different styles you use throughout this piece. In my opinion, the last stanza is the most powerful, with the alliteration of "Use your/Use conformity" repeated 4/5 times over.

You've got a lot of great material here--I'd love to read more of your work.

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