All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
De Profundis
but if your arms were just a thousand miles closer
maybe I wouldn’t be writing this, pen to patient paper.
and if your eyes just welled up once for me, all over me-
maybe I’d be in your bed.
but if I google translated what you said to me a hundred times,
it would be oh, so simple, saying ‘I wouldn’t notice,’
‘I wouldn’t notice,’
‘if you’d killed yourself that day, I wouldn’t notice it.’
saying, ‘I hope you rot in that hospital room.’
and I’m here, screaming: ‘ALL MY LIFE, I’VE BEEN SINGING TO YOU’
and if your ears were a garden, they’d be singing it too.
and you’d hold me close in my hospital room.
I’m here, writing a poem in a hospital room.
but if your arms were just a thousand miles farther,
maybe you wouldn’t resent me so much.
and maybe if I didn’t promote you to Captain of the F*cking Titanic,
you’d jump off
you’d jump off.
and all I’m dreaming about is my hospital room.
hearing the caterwaul of Holden Caulfield’s tomb.
and I’m here, screaming: ‘ALL I NEEDED WAS SOMEONE LIKE YOU.’
and if your ears were a garden, they’d be singing it too.
if your eyes were a fountain, they’d be like mine.
and if your home was a casket, we’d be neighbors.
if your soul was a shelter, like I thought it was.
and if your arms were a stronghold
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 6 comments.
I’m also a particularly big fan of the CITR reference. I’ve noticed a lot of discourse surrounding his character lately, and a lot of people dismiss him as whiny, etc., without giving him the time of day to view his full situation. We say we are decreasing the stigmatization of mental health, but when we see one of the best literary representations of mental illness, suddenly it is ugly, it is annoying. Those of us with mental illnesses feel those repercussions. Also, with the book being his narration of what happened leading up to his hospitalization, whilst inside the hospital - I see what you did there.
Lovely work!
This is almost unequivocally the most difficult piece I've ever brought myself to write...and like its lines convey, it was conceived within the walls of an inpatient facility. It's been just shy of a year now, where I've since learned to breathe for myself again, rather than for a person who bruised me so deeply I nearly lost my life. I've since learned to seek pleasure (rather than immense agony) in this life we're all so blessed to have. And I've learned to live it, rather than to simply survive. I hope my work can bring whomever reads this the catharsis it gave me to put into words for the first time.