These poems were originally published in Open Minds Quarterly.
Manic She was a walking apology desperately seeking to justify each breath she took. As if she owed the world her deepest pain. As if only through her own devastation she could finally earn a space for herself in this lonely desert of a world. A Lever in the Darkness It all comes down to trying. Apparently, we don’t try hard enough. We can’t work ourselves out of these jagged holes. It doesn’t matter if our brain chemistry is twisted and our hearts, branded with trauma trade beats for pill shaped bullets. It doesn’t matter how hard we try. We cannot try ourselves out of these meat suits. We cannot love without suffering. We are told we are not trying hard enough for this mountain of grief to implode. We should be ashamed. --But, you put enough damage on us that we skip the shame, We trip over your misguidance. We aren’t trying, you say, to shake the layers of ghosts from our flesh. We should know: How to love ourselves, And think good thoughts. Why aren’t you trying? The last hideous echo of their gruesome reproach. If we are breathing, trust me we are trying. By Kristy Webster