Escape | Teen Ink

Escape MAG

August 13, 2010
By seas.collide PLATINUM, Lawrenceville, Georgia
seas.collide PLATINUM, Lawrenceville, Georgia
21 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light. If you cut me I could shine." - Billy Collins


I'm beginning to notice that my life is
nothing more than a never-ending poem,
split up into millions of individual moments
that could create an epic tale if only I could
string them all together into words.

There's a woman I see every day on my walk
who does nothing but sit in her car and read novels.
I can see the results of her chain smoking filtered out
of the barely cracked window, flooding the garage with
a thick, tobacco-scented fog.

I can't help but wonder what drove her to her nook,
safe behind the dog-eared pages of unrequited romances.
Am I missing something, behind the distorted curtains on the dirty windows?
The neighborhood is so quiet; At this point, I think
everyone has simply sewn their mouths shut.

On the other hand, the other side of the spectrum,
there's a man, old and hunched, that I pass in the car sometimes.
He walks the same streets for hours, every single day.
His wrinkled hands clasped tightly behind his back,
eyes darting from tree to car to sidewalk.

I've passed him walking home from school, and
I've noticed that he doesn't like to smile.
His face is kept in a perpetual grimace, whether
the sky is bathed in a grey promise of rain, or
glowing brightly with a slightest hint of a breeze.

I wish I knew what drove them away,
Why they can't bear to stay inside, even on the darkest days.
But mostly, I wish I could understand
why they let themselves stay trapped when everyone can tell
that they so desperately want to escape.



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This article has 2 comments.


on Jul. 29 2011 at 7:47 pm
Garnet77 PLATINUM, Sinagpore, Other
31 articles 6 photos 577 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Everything's a triangle." ~ My mother

"Write what you love, write what you care about, because sometimes, it's the easiest way to be heard."

This is really, really good. It really is hard not to wonder about things like this. You wrote this very well :)

on Jul. 29 2011 at 1:41 am
MaggieElaine GOLD, Los Alamos, California
11 articles 0 photos 55 comments

Favorite Quote:
"As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry,
like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology that no one can hope to achieve.
And I am never real; it is just a sketch of me.
And everything I made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time." - Bright Eyes

I LOVE this. You have an extremely keen feel to your surroundings... I have to say, now you have me wondering as well :)