Brenna Desmond

Grade: 11

Hawken School

Instructor: Abby Chew

If You'd Let Me

Poetry

If You'd Let Me

When I was younger,
My mother told me to water the plants
so I brought them a few glasses of water
and drowned them in their own beauty
I watched them grow taller every day for sixty-five days
I had given them seventy-two glasses of water

When I was younger,
I promised myself I'd watch the sun fall every night
just to make sure she landed safely
One of these days, she'll let me paint her colors
I could've sworn my brushes were around here somewhere

When I was younger,
I didn't check under the bed or in the closet for monsters
because monsters deserve friends, too
Instead, I slept on the floor for three weeks straight
It's rude not to offer your guests the bed

I never told my mother how often I watered the plants
I knew she'd only sigh and tell me
I had given them too much

Hey Stranger

Poetry

Hey Stranger

it wasn't until someone told me that the hospital is where someone might be living their first day or their last that i truly understood how much i want to be alive and i'm sorry mom and dad for all the times i stormed out in teenage rebuttal both mentally and physically and i think the flowers looked different today did you realize how one petal is more purple than the other? it goes without saying that the years you remember most are the ones in your teens but they never told us we'd be crying every night and making bets on who'd still be alive in the morning because our shower razors weren't just for legs and i really wish you would've seen the difference in the purple on the petals of your favorite flowers and even though your high school teacher watched you fall and didn't bother a hand until you were bleeding out on your bathroom floor i still love you,
i do.