What Goes On: A Collection of Poems

Different People

       There's a quote that goes, "No matter what you do, you'll always be the bad guy in someone else's story.'
You'd be sitting there, flipping pages, trying to connect dots
Towards the antagonist - towards clues.

Yet what are the clues? Who's story did you shatter
Like ice when you stepped on it watching the cracks spread out into the open?
What can you do but want to go back - to safety?
You and I both know you fall one way or another.

Your reflection disappates. Only thing there 'who am I?'
So many characters, stories - who are you in your story?
What do others see before you fall in?
Do they see as you see?

We like to think we are the best person. Most kind, truthful, responsible.
But what kind of responsible person steps on ice?
Would it be the same one who posses for a picture with friends before it cracks?
Or perhaps is it the one who clocks in every day, feeling like they are drowning?
Is it the one that calls loved ones
Saying lies behind smiles so they too don't fall in?

We know what made the crack. Why did we walk?
What possessed us to do this?
There's no seeing beneath the ice
No clues to connect.
So I ask again, who am I if not rational?

When there's too many stories, different versions, reflections
Reflections are lies aren't they?
Is that why they shatter and fade?
In a mirror, a glass of water -
Is that what people see?

If indeed, who's story are we really talking about here?
There's no repairing broken ice
Undrinking the water
Though you try.
You try hard to run to safety but more damage comes up.
The more you try, the more there is.

So who's story is it?
Is it all the above?
Are you the bad person in your own story?
Do you believe them -
Despite your best efforts to stay afloat?

We try to be good where we can
But does it make a difference?
Despite you believing you're a good person
And doing good actions- the damage is done.

The ice breaks.
The water is gone.
The mirror becomes dirty.
The heart breaks.
You drown in sorrow.

You can't take it back -
Maybe you are bad.
Calling out under water is useless.

So you clock back in
Take that photo
Step on that ice
Why?

Because no matter how hard you try
You're always the bad guy in another story;
Yet that's your fault.
You stepped on the ice
The drowning continues.
Who am I?

                                               -Ara Cherrilyn