Content Warning – Mentions of and Allusions to Depression and Suicide
With it being Mental Health Awareness Month, it has become a time filled with many difficult discussions. Talking about mental health is never easy, whether it be because the topics themselves are triggering or because opening up about one’s inner thoughts is easier said than done. When I wrote this poem originally in middle school, I truly didn’t understand the complexity of mental health at the time; I was mainly focused on this notion of comparing the idea of gravity with that of suicide and depression. During my poetry class I decided to revisit this poem and tweak it until this middle school thought was fully fleshed out. As it covers a rather sensitive subject, please don’t read this lightly.
Gravity
I see you lost your sense of gravity.
There were no farewell speeches, nor bidding
adieu, just a missed call or two,
it rang
and rang
but since when does that end in tragedy?
You’re more like a doll, now – not quite Barbie,
but this model comes with scars from cutting
away the string that held you down. There’s nothing included
to provide immortality.
You’ve left me behind, just like you used to:
Like at prom, my last soccer game, or that night
when we almost got matching tattoos
with our initials engraved in our thighs.
Now I’m standing here
in this crowded room
with those you left behind this year,
who glance around to affirm
that they still have a tight grip on their
sense of gravity.