The Next Page
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Clare Landis We sit turning pages One day to the next Over and over Until it becomes so easy We forget what we’re doing, why we’re doing it And how difficult it can be to turn the page Sometimes our pages stick The ink bleeds And our brains become massive weights in our heads Our grey matter turns into a lump of fear and despair Her brain became a weight But she tried to turn the page like everyone else Her pages stuck, her ink ran off So she fought She fought with love and words and hope and kindness She fought with big pills and small pills and infusions and electric shocks She fought so hard to turn her next page But she had a massive weight in her head She fought anyway Until there was no next page
In loving memory of all of those who lost their lives to suicide. According to the World Health Organization, there is one suicide attempt every 1–2 seconds and a death by suicide every 20 seconds.1 National suicide hotline: 800-273-8255 1. José Manoel Bertolote and Alexandra Fleischmann, “Suicide and psychiatric diagnosis: A worldwide perspective,” World Psychiatry 1, no. 3 (2002): 181–185. -Clare Landis is a junior from Charlotte, NC, pursuing majors in Business and Psychology.-
