When I am Dead | Teen Ink

When I am Dead MAG

January 21, 2009
By HannahW BRONZE, West Des Moines, Iowa
HannahW BRONZE, West Des Moines, Iowa
1 article 0 photos 2 comments

When I am dead, my dearest, don’t stick my bones
together with Scotch tape. Do not try to fit them
underneath a frame. Use them, one by one,
as a weapon, a gavel. My bones,
they can be good back scratchers, honey mixers,
and hands of clocks.

You can toss them across space
and see how far they’ll glide until another hand
slips across it. When I am dead, dearest,
thread my bones to the top of a mountain.

The next time you arrive at a glass sea,
spill it boldly. Spell your life in two parts,
watch them float until they descend
like a weight down into that container.



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This article has 406 comments.


on Jan. 6 2010 at 10:03 am
Beautiful poem! The idea of celebrating you bones is unique.

Marylin22 said...
on Jan. 6 2010 at 8:48 am
That was amazing. you should have a book, cuz now i wanna read more!

Marylin22 said...
on Jan. 6 2010 at 8:48 am
my bad, wrong button. really good poem though!

Marylin22 said...
on Jan. 6 2010 at 8:46 am
That was amazing. you should have a book, cuz now i wanna read more!

on Dec. 15 2009 at 8:26 pm
sasssgirrrl22 PLATINUM, Pearl River, New York
27 articles 0 photos 266 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Giving up is not a part of my vocabulary."
"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
"Truth be told I miss ya, truth be told I'm lying."

agree with Wow. awesome story. very descriptive. Luvvv da analogiez 2

on Dec. 15 2009 at 8:23 pm
sasssgirrrl22 PLATINUM, Pearl River, New York
27 articles 0 photos 266 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Giving up is not a part of my vocabulary."
"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
"Truth be told I miss ya, truth be told I'm lying."

wow. this really is amazing. one of the best i've read on here

cass said...
on Dec. 15 2009 at 7:35 pm
wow this was really intersting. im wondering what message this was for you. what was your inspiration? what were you feeling when you write it. good job. keep writing

Wow... said...
on Dec. 15 2009 at 4:05 pm
Wow. It was a strange, melodic dance of emotions, but I liked it! I encourage every girl, and every boy, with aspirations of love, to read DEMON's story. Beautiful. I liked the Jack Sparrow analogy!

DEMON said...
on Dec. 15 2009 at 3:58 pm
EDWARD & BELLA...ROMEO & JULIET...JACK SPARROW & RUM...We all have our dreams of love and forever. I give you "DARIAN & CLARA"...Would you be kind enough to voice your opinion about...

"RAZED EXPECTATIONS"

Wisps of smoke danced into the wintry air from my lips, creating ornate designs that could never be replicated. I carefully tilted the corners of my lips into a smile that I meant to be wry. Of course, it's difficult to articulate emotions that I can't feel, but I find that irony is relatively simple to demonstrate. I inhaled the toxic vapors of the cigarette casually. Its sinister, black cancer couldn't cripple a seventeen-year-old boy with no lungs, let alone a heart.

I glanced in the direction of the horizon, and flinched. The sun was dying flamboyantly, casting its radiant colors across the sky. Its last waves of light caressed my cold, pale skin. I wanted to snarl rebelliously as I felt its warmth slide against me deviously.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

My muscles went rigid, and I had to focus madly on controlling my shaking hands. I would know that voice, that beautiful, disastrous voice, in the realms beyond that of Earth. I grated my teeth, reeling in the disturbing sensations that she unknowingly always aroused in me.

I cocked my body towards her arrogantly, and lifted my mouth into a crooked crescent moon. I felt my eyes flashing, but I worked vehemently to fixate an arctic, hard tone into the dark of my indigo irises.

“I find the sunset lifeless and meaningless, actually,” I countered flatly, and a beat too late.

She laughed merrily, and I struggled within myself as my mind and body became entranced by the beautiful movement of her laughter as the colors of the sun played about her.

“You amuse me, Darian. How can you have such a pessimistic view of the world? The sun will not be lifeless until it disappears beneath the horizon, and the night falls. It’ll rise tomorrow, though,” she said.

I dared not think of her name. I hated the way my soul-if I had a soul-thrilled when her voice lingered over my name. It reminded me of music. I had to close my mind defiantly as I thought of music. I wanted nothing that resembled passion.

“That’s an inane notion that foolish women entertain. You want poetry, and ridiculous vows of forever. You aren’t difficult to read. If you want that sunset to mean something, then you want unrequited love. It doesn’t work like that,” I growled unmercifully, angry at her for unleashing the flood of feelings upon me.

DEMON said...
on Dec. 15 2009 at 3:49 pm
"RAZED EXPECTATIONS" It continues...

Her lovely green eyes shifted into hard emeralds.

“What do you know about me, Dare? And what’s so wrong with having dreams? And why are you talking to me like that? I was simply commenting on the sunset.” She tossed her red curls, clearly miffed.

I lifted my chin, and blew smoke in her face. It was easier on me when she was angry. I don’t know why she bothered with me. Why she was brave enough to confront me. Why she didn’t follow the laws of the superficial high school we both attended. Why she didn’t stay away from me, like everyone else.

“You’ll die from that smoking, Darian.” She glared at me. We’d had this argument a lot. I lifted my eyebrows, and turned away from her, signaling that the conversation was over.

She didn’t obey, and I sighed.

“You know, Dare, you could let yourself feel. You could understand it.” Her voice was soft, a whisper in the darkening air. She was air. My air.

I reviled the potency of the emotions I could feel pulsing through me. I ran a hand through my black hair nervously, my body skidding with strange, unfamiliar energy. I didn’t want to answer her. Why didn’t she leave?

I made a fatal mistake when I looked at her. Every nerve inside of me screamed, as though my body and internal organs were recharging hurriedly in the rare moment of my awakening.

I think I felt my heart beat hesitantly.

My voice seemed like that of a stranger. It had a rich, deep tone to it. It had color.

“Understand what?”

Something in my expression changed the way she was looking at me. It may have mirrored the arrangement of my own features. She became vulnerable in that instant.

“Kiss me.” She whispered brokenly.

Surprise jolted keenly through me. God, I wished I was numb again. Everything felt electric-too intense and too vivid. Emotions scattered across my being, a mutinous invasion of the raging war against myself. I was defenseless and an easy prey to her request. I breathed jaggedly, and there was a husky vibe to it. Want. I recognized it more clearly as it bloomed vibrantly through me.

And she was waiting. For me.

I destroyed the walls I had so warily built as I leaned towards her. She lifted a creamy hand and laid it tenderly against my cheek, the expectation making her bold. I moaned, and closed my eyes. My own hands loosened, and reached for her face greedily

Something hot-burning-ignited against my skin. I wrenched myself away, dazed by the unpleasant sensation. Had a spark traveled through our bodies? That’s when I noticed the cigarette kindling like a faint ember beside my marred hand. It had burnt me. The throbbing pain brought a wave of consciousness through me. Reality. And I stared at her face, inches from mine, and something clicked inside of me. Gears that began humming smoothly, like a tuned clock. I pulled back, and tossed her hand away like it stung. I grimaced as the vitals within me slowly resumed their state of nothingness, and shook my head to clear it of its nonsensical ideas.

She watched the change take possession of me, and tears began to collect in her eyes.

I found that I could care less.

I grinned at her, and mocked, “I taste of cigarettes, Clara.”

She got up shockingly to her feet, and backed away as if understanding for the first time what I was. Tears stained her nondescript face.

I smiled, that careful replication of a smile, and said acidly, “Did I humor your silly fantasies well?”

Her face crumpled entirely, and she pivoted away and ran sobbing from my scathing ridicule.

The sun died, and all was dark.

on Dec. 15 2009 at 10:52 am
scarletP SILVER, East Lansing, Michigan
8 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A smart girl listens but doesn't believe, kisses but doesn't love and leaves before she is left."
-- Marilyn Monroe

this is extremely intresting, a little bit strange, but that is what makes it so wonderful. i am very curious, where did u get the inspiration?

jimmy_a GOLD said...
on Dec. 11 2009 at 8:27 am
jimmy_a GOLD, Sanford, North Carolina
12 articles 0 photos 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
Look for me, not with a flashlight but open your heart n free your soul n there my love i shall be

very... interesting yes that the word i was looking for

on Dec. 8 2009 at 10:40 am
DarkAngelEmotional SILVER, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8 articles 5 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
1) Things won't be positive unless you are positive.
2) Admit when you do something wrong and you will recive someting great in returne.
3) Curiosity didn't kill the cat it made the cat smarter because the cat won't do it again

This poem is wow.....interesting...but kinda weird. Nice job!!

on Nov. 25 2009 at 8:51 pm
This poem was sick! (In a good way!) I loved it. My favorite part was "When I am dead dearest, thread my bones to the top of a mountain." Absolutely eerie and vibrating with power and dignity. A very mabre feel. Powerful, great language.

Rachie_P. GOLD said...
on Nov. 23 2009 at 7:50 pm
Rachie_P. GOLD, Virginia Beach, Virginia
11 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
don't spend your life hiding from the monsters under your bed> go out and enjoy life to the fullest

wow its so good i love it :)

on Nov. 13 2009 at 10:39 am
dylonmichael GOLD, El Dorado, Kansas
10 articles 3 photos 118 comments

Favorite Quote:
i have two one is "live life as if it were your last day on earth" and two is "never make some one your everything because when they leave you you have nothing"

i love this poem its amazing

on Nov. 6 2009 at 11:07 am
CASTROLmatt GOLD, Coolidge, Arizona
14 articles 11 photos 59 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Sometimes you have to take life less seriously to get where you want to be."

This was really nice and made me think...How would I want my loved ones to feel after I'm gone. It brings back the realization that today could be our last and that we have to make things for the best. I love this. It's a great poem.

on Nov. 1 2009 at 11:19 pm
Writedancelove&live GOLD, Redding, California
12 articles 2 photos 66 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
"Karen: If you're from Africa why are you white? Gretchen: Omg Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white."

Wow this is amazing. I wish I had your ability to write like this. Extremely well written : )

eee12 said...
on Nov. 1 2009 at 8:50 pm
this is an amazing poem! :D i wish i could write like this! keep up the good work

on Oct. 29 2009 at 9:28 pm
B.R.Nack SILVER, Grand Junction, Colorado
5 articles 0 photos 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
“...Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
--Stephen King

I love this poem, its amazing and well written, beautiful, and black humor adds a nice touch