Student Publishing Program ::

Rachel Townzen

Vanishing Act

90 pounds and they are putting you away,
a textbook situation for a cookie-cutter girl.
so why did you come back sicker, smaller?
as always, you proved the world wrong.
out of nowhere came a demand for perfection,
as if organization and routine could
save you from yourself.
happiness is elusive and beauty is evasive,
but you'd kill yourself for either one.

after a month back in the "real world"
the scale read 75, which was 75 too much,
and you disappeared into a mess of time and space.
as you shrank, the pieces that held you together were shattered.
how can emptiness ever fill you up?
no word fits the mold of your emotions,
so you use "sad" to describe your colorless world.
"sad" is your blanket statement,
a desperate excuse to make yourself feel better,
a way to put things in a neat, little box and label it:
"ANSWER."

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2009 EDITION]