Split Your Heart, Not Your Tongue

Waiting to hear the words that I want Is almost like slowly sticking glass in your eyes With every twitch and scream I wait for the pain to subside  But if you speak what I can't bear to hear I wouldn't know where to take it from there Because I waited for this too long I don't know how much longer I can be strong All good things come to those who wait But I waited too long for you to determine my fate I'm just a piece in your game board What can I really do? I want to speak out in fury But I know that won't get the best of you Because you control this cruel world And I'm only just a girl I have a dream and a pen And I intend to use it I have a voice and a sound But I'm not sure if I'm fit Because there are all these rules I'm supposed to follow But in truth, I feel like I'm being swallowed Being digested in a world of lies Stuck in a place where everyone wears buttons for eyes If I'm like me I can't make it I wasn't made with the rig...

"We're the kids who feel like dead ends...And the poets are just kids who didn't make it...and never had it at all..."  If you bothered to read the back cover text for my upcoming novel "A Tragic Heart" then you are already aware that the novel touches heavily upon the topic of mental illness. Although the concept of self-mutilation and depression are becoming more and more mainstream in our culture, my fear is that it is not recognized enough and never will be. The opinions and stigmas that are held by many people in today's society toward those who suffer from a mental illness isn't so far from the 1950s where many thought it was okay to perform a lobotomy on anyone deemed as "crazy" or "mentally ill." As a society, our actions from a medical standpoint may have improved but our beliefs haven't really changed at all. Even though recent studies have shown that people who are deemed as mentally ill tend to have some form ...