NOBODY by Ann Hite

NOBODY by Ann Hite

(For those battling)

Nobody likes to talk about your feelings.

Push them down, step away.

No one wants to hear your heart spilling

All over the page. Not really.

Nobody likes to hear about your challenges. Not really.

They smile. They nod when they are supposed to.

They step away to other thoughts. Their thoughts.

Your heart rips in half when you can’t help those struggling.

Nobody likes to talk about the hard edges inside your life, hidden

In the shadows. Not really. No one wants to reach out for long.

Hurry and get better. Speed it up. Often they don’t think outside themselves.

Not for long. They nod when they are supposed to. Until they don’t hear anymore.

Nobody likes to hear about the crumbling dream. Move on. Don’t stay there.

Won’t that feel better? Not really.

They refuse to see your feet sunk in hardening cement. No one cares

To see, to feel, the deep, deep struggle and emotions.

Nobody likes to hear about your successes. Not really.

Unless the winning moment reflects them. No one understands the distance

To cover between pain and happiness. Nobody sees the tears flooding a

Broken heart. Not really.

Nobody likes to talk about the inability to cope with stress built around you

A wall high and long like the Great Wall of China.

No one hears the whispers in your heart.

The empty space, the ripple of breaking glass. Not really.

Nobody wants to hear you tell them no, telling them it is too much,

Too hard, too long. They hate the word too. Shadows fall around you.

Working around your shoulders, a heavy cloak on the shoulders

Of each nobody who turns away to see their reflections in the glass of water. Not really.

Nobody wants to talk about you crying out in pain. The process is too hard.

All you know is what lives around you. The heart of the story and life

Worth living, worth chasing, worth fighting for.

The process is too hard. Not really.

In September of 2011 Gallery, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, published Ann Hite’s first novel, Ghost on Black Mountain. In 2012 this novel was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize, Georgia’s oldest literary award. In the same year, Ghost on Black Mountain won Hite Georgia Author of the Year. She went on to publish four more novels, a novella, memoir, and most recently Haints On Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection from Mercer University Press. In December 2022, Haints On Black Mountain was one of ten finalist for the Townsend Prize. The collection was a Bronze Winner in Foreword Indie Award 2023 and Georgia Author of the Year Second Place Winner for Short Stories 2023. Ann received a scholarship to the Appalachian Witers Workshop Hindman Settlement in the summer of 2020 and was invited back in 2021. Her passion for history influences all her work.