Chaos Theory | Teen Ink

Chaos Theory MAG

November 14, 2008
By Anonymous

Carolyn says she believes in angels
while mascara spiders creep thickly along the
heavy baggage beneath her eyes like the
black pitch of the school hallways at night or
the charcoal that she dips her fingernails in and I
remember cheating on my math test that morning
So
I tell her I believe in people.

Roasted honey nut, the color she was born with but
you really wouldn’t know it because of the midnight L’Oréal
she chooses, tragically highlighted with Punk Pink or
Raging Red from a bottle and 15
minutes of waiting –
It spills limply over her black eyes whenever she leans down to write and
Carolyn says she believes in fate.

In planets aligning in the universe and
Feng shui that keeps mice away and prevents ulcers but also
makes a girl fall in love with a boy but
I know all about chemistry and hormones and catalysts so I
think I believe in science.

In reincarnation, she thinks she’ll come back as a bird
Or maybe a peacock and I say I agree when I
see those striped stockings that come to her knees and
neon earrings lifeless at her shoulders but she only laughs …
tells me I never really see her and to
call her later.

Now with the dial tone in my ear
the cold trembling and I’m suffocating on nothing
because I really see her and I
know she believes in the afterlife but
she doesn’t believe in laughter and
the phone just rings and rings and rings …

Carolyn said she believed in angels.



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This article has 376 comments.


on Jun. 27 2018 at 3:57 pm
EyesofIris GOLD, South Burlington, Vermont
10 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I've always loved the idea of not being what people expect me to be." -Anonymous

Chills! I love this poem.

on Mar. 28 2018 at 9:13 am
TobiasEliot DIAMOND, San Diego, California
53 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul." -Pablo Neruda

Is this a true story? Because if so...I'm sorry. My friend did the same thing Carolyn did.

on Apr. 27 2014 at 6:50 am
WOWriting SILVER, Broadstairs, Other
5 articles 0 photos 266 comments
I love this and I love the fact you're so absorbed in the poem you don't even realise what Carolyn's trying to say until the very end :) AMAZING. 

papersails said...
on Apr. 7 2013 at 12:30 pm
papersails, Muskego, Wisconsin
0 articles 0 photos 5 comments
Ever since I first found this poem over a year ago, I constantly come back to read it whenever I look at my list of favorites. This poem is absolutely amazing and captivates me from the beginning to the end. Great job on it!

byebye said...
on Dec. 24 2012 at 9:43 pm
byebye, Nevermore, Other
0 articles 0 photos 250 comments
This poem is really amazing, and I don't really say that a lot. I found myself mumbling fragments of it under my breath today and just had to find it again. It must have been months since I read it last, but it affected me so much I couldn't shake it from my subconcsious. I think that's the mark of an incredible writer. I know this poem was submitted in 2009, but if by chance you (the writer!) sees these comments, I just want to tell you I think you're amazing and your writing is amazing and this is the only time I've ever found it appropriate to use asdfghjkl;. Right down to the title: so beautifully intertwined into the essence of your words, and yet so unexpected and abstract. Right down to the tone and the separations of lines, where 'ands' leave a sense of uncertainty and a certain intensity I can't quite pinpoint. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore, but I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say this: I hope, almost four years after this masterpiece (I'm not sucking up, I'm serious), you're continuing to write beautiful, heart wrenching words. I hope you become a published writer and I hope you're leading a beautiful life. I really wish the best for you. Your talent is raw and rare.

. said...
on Oct. 22 2012 at 4:42 pm
What a beautiful poem!

on Oct. 22 2012 at 11:40 am
C-rizzle BRONZE, Brewton, Alabama
4 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
"How can you know it, if you don't even try?"--Coldplay :)

Whoa. I love this. Amazingly written. It's like something we're going to find in the literary textbooks one day. It's so deep. The first time I read it, I was like, "Wait...did she...?" Then I went back and read it again and it confirmed by suspicions. Wow. It's just great. 

on Oct. 16 2012 at 12:30 pm
SweetThing SILVER, Paradox, New York
6 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"right now might be stormy weather but it cant rain forever"

i love the story aspect it holds from start to finish and the captivation of it is immense :)

on Sep. 30 2012 at 4:57 pm
CallMeSunshine GOLD, Lehi, Utah
15 articles 0 photos 36 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Creativity takes courage."

Right now, this is my favorite poem. Would it be over kill to frame it and hang it on my wall? ;)

on Aug. 17 2012 at 10:14 pm
SouthrnBelle4Life SILVER, Pine River, Wisconsin
6 articles 2 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Dream like you'll live forever, Live as if you only have today."

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!

irishlass317 said...
on Aug. 17 2012 at 6:10 pm
irishlass317, Jefferson City, Missouri
0 articles 0 photos 134 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I asked Jesus 'How much do you love me?' He answered 'This much.' And He streched out His arms and died."

This is so amazing I love it!!! It is so perfect, so beautifully written....<3

on Jul. 26 2012 at 6:30 pm
CharlieSmoke GOLD, Lowell, Massachusetts
18 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.”
- Emily Dickinson

 

 


on Jul. 26 2012 at 3:05 am
julietted BRONZE, Tampa, Florida
3 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Knowledge is power" -Sir Francis Bacon

Gives you chills once you grasp the deeper meaning!

on Jul. 17 2012 at 12:50 am
decieve_the_rainbow BRONZE, Indianapolis, Indiana
4 articles 6 photos 1 comment
Wow. The first time i read this i instantly loved it. Its so smooth and goes along perfectly. I also loved it because i don't fully get it yet, but i'm still reading.

on Jul. 6 2012 at 9:33 pm
i_am_so_very_large_and_towering SILVER, Mililani, Hawaii
5 articles 1 photo 114 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

i think this is one of the best things I have ever read here. i really love this.

on Jul. 4 2012 at 4:24 pm
TheCylceGoesRound PLATINUM, Raleigh, North Carolina
24 articles 2 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
When the rich wage war it's the poor who die.

Wooooow. This is amazing.

on Jul. 4 2012 at 1:12 pm
Tongue_Blep PLATINUM, ????, Ohio
40 articles 1 photo 769 comments
Nice.


~ Free :)(:

on Jul. 4 2012 at 12:27 pm
ThatGirlWithAVoice BRONZE, Brampton, Other
3 articles 0 photos 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
"My hobbies include editing my life story, hiding behind metaphors & trying to convince my shadow that I'm someone worth following." - Rudy Francisco

Wow, this is probably the best peice I've ever read on TeenInk. I can honestly say it had me captivated from start to finish. Flawless!

on Jul. 2 2012 at 11:01 pm
i_am_so_very_large_and_towering SILVER, Mililani, Hawaii
5 articles 1 photo 114 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

this is really really wonderful.

EmilyLH SILVER said...
on Jun. 10 2012 at 9:12 am
EmilyLH SILVER, Tarrytown, New York
7 articles 0 photos 1 comment
This is by far the most beautiful thing I've read on teenink.
chaos theory: unpredictable actions yield unpredictable reactions
it refers to the world, the universe even but you focus on this one girl, this one microcosm and you did it perfectly. 

"feng shui that keeps mice away and prevents ulcers but also makes a girl fall for a boy and"
how do you even come up with such a brilliant line? Added to favorites. :) I can't wait to see more of your work.