ap english | Teen Ink

ap english MAG

August 22, 2016
By megan_lynne GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
megan_lynne GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story."


when i was seventeen i started buying books of poetry because,
as it turned out, i didn’t know everything yet;
i wanted to read each and every one, sat on a dusty carpet in
the barnes and noble thirty minutes from my house,
wondered why bookstores have such weird names,
settled on three collections because i had to be home soon, it’s
the night before the first day. i’m starting my
senior year in thirteen hours & all i want to do is lie down in
barnes and noble, read ariel and red sugar,
forget that i haven’t done my ap english work,
avoid how little i care about doing my ap english work,
i don’t think i’m going to wear any makeup.
my face is red and puffy without it, eyes small as ocean floor stones,
lips pale and thin like old banana skins, but also,
i used to spend forty minutes doing my makeup sophomore year so
i had to stop eating breakfast & i also stopped eating lunch,
but that’s a lifestyle choice, not a practicality, and it’s also
a whole separate poem, probably,
anyways, i think i’m going to just bring my three new books and a
box of cereal. i’ll leave the lip gloss at home, and maybe i’ll start wanting
to do things i like again. maybe i’ll start doing my schoolwork again,
if i make my face shiny clean enough, or have a balanced breakfast,
maybe i’ll turn into some sort of GPA necromancer. that’s what
people say, right? do x y and z and you’ll stop aching for death in
the barnes and noble thirty minutes from your house. i used to
want to have a book on the shelves in front of me, but
i’m writing a stupid poem that’s just a flow of self-pitying thoughts
instead of doing necessary tasks
if i flunk senior year english can people still say
i was a good writer? ponder that, o teacher.
essential question: if writer avoids reading epic novel to write a
bad poem in a cramped
bookstore bathroom, is she still meaningful? will anyone remember her?
what are the thematic implications of the
makeup? can you tell the writer was raped?
i understand why sylvia plath wanted to try on different lives;
tomorrow, i can be whole again, a sophomore with makeup and mentality intact.
today, though, I am a girl who eats too much and cries into stale carpets,
and writes bad bathroom poetry on old receipts.



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This article has 8 comments.


AlisonI BRONZE said...
on Apr. 19 2018 at 5:05 pm
AlisonI BRONZE, New York, New York
1 article 0 photos 1 comment
this is amazing

on Aug. 21 2017 at 1:24 pm
ambivalent SILVER, West Bend, Wisconsin
7 articles 0 photos 180 comments

Favorite Quote:
everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. the worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. [sylvia plath]

wow, absolutely stunning. i'm typically a fan of short poems, but this just kept reeling me in. amazing work !!! please don't stop writing.

on Sep. 28 2016 at 12:04 pm
megan_lynne GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story."

thank you so much!! :)

on Sep. 28 2016 at 12:03 pm
megan_lynne GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story."

thank you!!! :)

on Sep. 27 2016 at 6:25 pm
megan_lynne GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story."

Wow, thank you! Looked at your page and you do too. I'll definitely be looking for more of you.

on Sep. 27 2016 at 2:43 pm
ElisaTheDuck ELITE, Rigaud, Other
323 articles 5 photos 166 comments

Favorite Quote:
LOOK AT MY PROFILE. DO IT.

My god you write beautifully.

on Sep. 3 2016 at 9:03 pm
ItsTimeToBegin PLATINUM, Lexington, Massachusetts
29 articles 0 photos 49 comments
Your poetry style kinda reminds me of one of my favorite poets keep on going :)

on Sep. 3 2016 at 4:21 pm
beyondthesky PLATINUM, Santa Monica, California
34 articles 3 photos 65 comments

Favorite Quote:
It's nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in one's heart, like treasures. I don't like to have them laughed at or wondered over.
-L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

I LOVE THIS! This poem is refreshingly honest❤