I'm Okay

by Liz   Dec 21, 2014


I'm okay.
It's just that,

sometimes,

the ghosts of the past tie
nooses around their necks
from the corners of my lips
and weigh them down.
The dead weight is too much
a burden to lift.
Truth is,
I'd rather let them die anyway.

I want to smile, but I'm
afraid that my teeth will
be stained red from so many
bitten tongues, and the
saliva-mixed blood will finally
start seeping through the cracks.

I want to say, "I'm not okay",
but when I try to speak, the
"not" curls its slimy fingers
around my voice box and
I choke on the "okays"
forcing themselves up my throat.
The words barely make it
out of my mouth-
dragging their acrid aftertaste
behind.

I want to look into
someone's eyes and tell the truth,
but mine are just abandoned catacombs.
Lies piled up within glass
coffins, while their phantoms
stumble precariously toward the ledge
of
an
endless
fall.
If only my eyes would
resist the involuntary urge
to force themselves shut
just this once.

I want to let those transparent
shadows fall to their death,
instead they get caught
(between eyelashes
that never could grant wishes)
and ushered back
into the dark, left stumbling
blindly through the corridors.

That is, of course,
until I'm met with
the triggering question:

"How are you?"

"I'm
okay."

I'm always okay.

    report violation
6


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Latest Comments

  • 7 years ago

    by Lucifer

    It's a long poem, but once I started it didn't feel like.
    That's the best thing about your poems.

  • 7 years ago

    by Em

    The most used lie by many of us "I'm ok" no we are not and in all honesty we want people to notice that we aren't.
    An emotional, raw write.

    Take care, Em

  • 9 years ago

    by Baby Rainbow

    The lie that everyone tells at least once in their lifetime... I am okay... but really I am falling apart. I find this poem to be very simple in the meaning, but yet the content is vivid with metaphors that really make the poem unique, even though it describing a cliché subject. The author has cleverly taken the reader through a journey in their eyes, and what a day can be like for them after being asked if they are okay. The author claims to be okay, whilst showing their audience that they are far from it.

  • 9 years ago

    by Euphanasia

    Wow

  • 9 years ago

    by Poet on the Piano

    I've come back to this poem multiple times in the past week and still am pretty speechless. I really can't add much other than the emotion is what touched my heart in this piece, and you reaching out through these words. You personified these "okays" powerfully and made me reflect on how often I say that and "I'm fine" to cover up what really hurts. What I can't get over. There's also such a strong longing in this piece, to be heard and to be told by someone who cares for you that no, you are not okay and they can see through your facade. I think we all at some point want someone to notice our pain. When we are so lost in it.

    Stay strong. Thanks for sharing this piece and congratulations on the win, too.

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