High school is,

Chapstick on exams

It's coughing up your lungs

Paper cuts in salt

The grease from pizza

High School is,

Poetry in the bathroom

Broken finger nails

Midnight essays

Dark red lipstick

High School is,

Best friends to strangers

It's glossy magazine love

Bubblegum anorexia

Page 5 of your math booklet

High School is,

Missing earbuds

Ripped dollar bills

It's too right braces

And hide and go seek pimples

High school is four years of this.

Four years of drama tryouts

Four years of cafeteria specials

Four years of PowerPoint intros

Four years of crowds

It's where I am right now.

It's-

High School.

Some of my ghosts are still

travelling the rooms

of my body

writing over the bones

maybe curses

maybe prayers

maybe questions

like will you accept

that you are beautiful

without destroying us?

my limits were pressed

first, lightly,

as flowers between the pages of an old book

then forcefully, as it shuts

there is no entirely benevolent being:

god, must know, suffering.

he placed us here, knowing

that our capacity for feeling was not

as it should be

there is no plan, destiny, reason

just another layer of purgatory

just hearts that crush too easily

just monsters that look, and sound, like men

I'll lend you my sweater

when you're cold 

to the touch.

I'll lend you a hand

when you need help

getting back up.

I'll lend you an eye

when you feel threatened

or afraid.

I'll lend you my foot

if you need to make

a great escape.

I'll lend you my shoulder

when you can no longer

hold tears back.

I'll lend you my arms,

when you need help

reaching your dreams.

I'll lend you my love

when you ever feel lonely.

I'll lend you my strength

when your faith is 

growing weak.

I'll lend you my time

when you need to live in a moment.

I'll lend you all of me,

if it helps make you happy.

Because you've done more for me

than I could ever do for you.

Afterall all, what are friends supposed

to do?

I'm tearing

Off my skin

Trying to

Find you,

To erase you,

To be rid

Of you.

Once and

For all.

But you

Aren't just

Inside of me.

I see bits 

Of who you

Are inside

Of everyone.

You are

Everywhere.

Bound to chains that do not make the slightest sound

I am tied down to the floor secured to the ground

These chains have no lock or any key

Nothing can break them for you or for me

They are made of love the strongest of glue

Undeniable unbreakable and true

Connected heart to heart mind to mind

These are the strongest links we will ever find

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© M.Withers/M.Strudwick . All rights reserved.

Both the name The EriduSerpent/EriduSerpent

and any written material is owned solely by the above named.

Permission granted for all written material to be shared but not for profit.

Printing or publishing is prohibited without seeking permission first from said owner.

Like a half-eaten lollipop

you left me discarded

savored my sweetness

lapped me right up

Rainbow coating

dissolved in your mouth

slowly

then suddenly

I got all muddled

and blended and

my color ran out

Now what to do

lying colorless

and sticky

and awkwardly bent

Pick me up

Pick me up

I’m half-devoured

not all the way spent