A few weeks ago, I posted on Twitter offering to write poems for people for free. Yesterday, a stranger messaged me asking me to write a poem for their friend with depression. First of all, this person is obviously such a sweetheart. Secondly, I was way too excited about this: my first #freepoem!

I’ve been sick for the last few days, but I grabbed my graph paper notebook and began writing immediately. It’s a sacred undertaking, and I take it seriously.

metamorph

insurmountable black of the darkness
he wants to not exist
always tired and perpetually missed

he cannot climb out of darkness
is there a purpose to exist?
a target he always missed

when a caterpillar happens to exist
eats and eats, not a leaf missed
he cocoons in darkness

a butterfly begins to exist
the opposite of darkness
a sight not to be missed

a light exists in the darkness

Sestinas are hard. I originally tried to make “metamorph” into a sestina, but it was ultimately a slave to the form. Instead, I honored the idea of the form and made it my own.

bottle cap necklace

bottle cap rolls
from the park bench
to the store
and around the block
a child picks it up
made into a necklace
with a shiny chain

This poem was much quicker to write and conveyed the lost-and-found-and-upcycled feeling of recovering from depression. I hope you like the freeform “bottle cap necklace.”

As an endnote, feel free to message me on my contact page or on Twitter @georgiatell if you want a free poem!