Long Sleeves By Jasen Sousa

Long Sleeves


Lisa’s father went to fight in a war.
Home alone with her drunken mother, she tried to endure.

She would come home from school and find her mother out cold.
Lisa kept beautiful stories hidden inside, never told.

Pain bottled up, empty bottles swallowed into her mother’s hollow gut.
So much sorrow, without anyone in the world to follow, Lisa began to cut.

She changed her wardrobe and began to dress dull.
She didn’t want anyone to wonder, she wanted them to know her life was hell.

Her face pale white, clothes as dark as night.
Gore became the color of life.

Every night with a knife she carved into her flesh.
On her knees, skin dripping tears, heavy breath, but not a wish for death.

Stress released with blood.
A ritual Lisa loved.

Never told her best friend, afraid she wouldn’t understand the blade’s feel.
It was about the hurt, but Lisa also loved watching it heal.

Sometimes Lisa would slice her skin under the stars
as the moon illuminated new blood and old scars.

Morbid memories of pain in the past.
Cut through high school and wore long sleeves to class.

No one bothered to ask, so Lisa never bothered to speak.
GOTHIC FREAK.

Time lines on her arms telling a gory tale.
Lisa will wear long sleeves until her heart heals.

Blood rolls, look, there it goes! A cover up with clothes.
Long sleeves, shadowing secret scabs that continue to grow.




Taken From
Selected Poems of Jasen Sousa
17-24
©
Comprised of works from:
Life, Weather (First Collection of Poems Written At Age 17) (Not In College)
A Thought and A Tear for Every Day of The Year: A Poetic Diary (Written Between ages 18-19) (Stint at Suffolk University)
Close Your Eyes and Dream With Me (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
Almost Forever (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
A Mosaic of My Mind (Written at Age 24) (Beginning Emerson College)