The Next Page

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.

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.-