Zara

Endo, a poem

Being a child is like being a bright, flourishing flower… unaware of the anguishing presence around me and in me, that would overtime take over me, my body and brain.

Slowly, slowly, pain would grow. Pain would crawl up the stem of me, curdling into me, slowly, slowly.

Time has passed. Now, the pain is taking away my colour. I am not bright and flourishing anymore. My petals begin to fall, my head begins to hang. Slowly, slowly.

Years later, I am now alone and wish for a flower of my own. But now – I am depleted of potential, so I have no flower, and I never will.

Being a flower of my kind is different to a lot of other flowers. They may have pain, but my pain is different. This pain is my life, this pain is my world. It torments and controls me, pushes me over and around, taking over me slowly.

I am no longer a bright flourishing flower.

I am a dying, hidden weed, slowly fading.

The time is gone now for me, my time was all pain, no control.

Author Bio

I’m Zara, a high school student and writer, and my passion for storytelling began early in my childhood when I would write and illustrate picture books that reflected my creative mind and imagination. I have always enjoyed literature – both writing it and reading it. I find enjoyment in reading to wind down and relax. I enjoy romance novels and science fiction. As I have gotten older, I have explored writing in-depth topics such as politics, feminism, and psychological fiction. Further ahead into my writing journey, I aspire to explore new topics like mental health and the labyrinth of the mind, and the essence of womanhood.

Book Review – Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

In Girl in Pieces, author Kathleen Glasgow plunges readers into the turbulent world of Charlotte, a teenager grappling with trauma and the quest for healing. Released in August 2016, this raw and powerful narrative explores the fragile line between despair and hope. Kathleen Glasgow is a New York Times-bestselling author of young adult fiction, with Girl in Pieces debuting #1 of the New York Times bestseller list. She was inspired to write this fairly personal story from her own experiences of anxiety and depression. The main character of this story, Charlotte Davis, has lost more than most people do in a lifetime at just 17. Her best friend, her parents, a home…  The shattered glass erases the sadness until only tranquillity remains.

“The world becomes an ocean, the ocean washes over me, the sound of water is deafening, the water drowns my heart, my panic becomes as large as planets. I need to hurt myself more than the world can hurt me, and then I can comfort myself.”

Charlie feels as though she has little to live for. Her father dying of suicide, her abusive mother refusing to give her a home, her best friend dead, as well as other unspeakable traumatic events. After spending a torturous period of time in a rehab clinic for girls like Charlie, she is released and gets on a bus to Tucson, Arizona, to be closer to a friend and old romantic interest from high school; Mikey. After discovering he was committed to someone else, she is drawn towards one of her new coworkers; a destructive and dysfunctional alcoholic. The following chapters are harrowing and tragic, but compelling, to watch Charlie break more and more, and finally piece herself back together. The book is certainly not an easy read, but instead, it is transcending and insightful into an understanding of trauma, and the result of what trauma can do, through a diary-like perspective.