Freshman year
New school
New me
I was not who I was one year ago
I tried to convince myself
.
A strange thing called
Popularity
Means nothing to me
Anymore
.
I made friends
What words could possibly
Do justice to
Their laughs?
Their smiles?
Their understanding?
Their jokes?
Their acceptance?
Their pain?
The answer, no words
.
When I’m with them
Simple proximity
I am far from the grasps of judgemental eyes
When I’m with them
I don’t regret my actions
When I’m with them
Happiness is achieved
When I’m with them
I am a free bird
Soaring through infinite blue skies
Chasing down my dreams
I see it all so vividly
At last
.
But then
Stares
Laughs
And rumors
Circle the air
About me
.
Don’t talk to them
They’re making you look bad
They’re weird
They say
.
Trust us
You’re new
We’ve known them our
Whole lives
They say
.
Can’t you see?
They make you act strange
They say
.
What they didn’t know
Was
That was how I acted
When I was comfortable
When I was happy
When I was free
.
I never told them that
Because I was under the influence
Of
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
Instead
I ignored them, my friends
Never responded to texts
No conversations
In the hallways
Avoided eye contact
Spread rumors from their secrets
.
Swapped them for
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
The looks on their beautiful faces
Confusion
Hatred
Anger
Worst of all
Disappointment
When I left them
.
Ripped my heart
Through my rib cage
Beating and bloody
Pulsing and alive
Thrown across the room
And stomped
Crushed
Demolished
By a thousand agonized punches
.
All for
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
Not a day slipped by
That I did not think of
My true friends
My real friends
.
Every night
Before I was pulled into the
World of unconsciousness
I would
Force myself
To
Remember
Everything
I
Had
Done
.
Every person I had hurt
Every person I had backtalked
Every person I had drowned
Just so I could remain afloat on
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
But I watched
From the eyes of another
As I did nothing
Because I was
Enthralled
By the idea
Of
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
A year has passed since then
Sophomore year
And I still relive
Those moments
Every night
Every night
Every night
.
Every day
I am tortured
By “friends” I don't
Truly
Like
.
Every day
I am living a peculiar
Personality
Of which
Does not belong to me
.
Every day
I lose a little bit more
Of who I am
.
I hate I hate I hate
Myself
I think every night
And ten times a day
.
All for
A strange thing called
Popularity
.
Now
I spend my days
Trying to repair
Cover my tracks from the past
But the damage has been done
But my voice has been lost
But my chance has been revoked
It
Is
Over
.
All because of
A strange thing called
Popularity
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139,327 Literary Works • 672,533 Reviews
That was a very touching poem. I was very relatable too. I just completed my 9th grade and, even though it was completely online, I can relate a bit. At times I have felt like what I am is not normal, I am very weird and no one wants to be friends with me. But my friends accepted me for who I am, I feel free with them. Teenage is when you feel like being popular and impressing everyone, but I have been told I will soon learn how to cope with it. You have given a valuable lesson to every teenager through this poem. It tells you how you can lose everything just by wanting to become popular. You can use yourself too. I loved how you used repetition to put emphasis in certain important parts. I think all teenagers should read this poem and understand the value of true friends..
thank you!!
In 9th grade, I was just a regular girl with a lot of friends, and then when I came back to school the next year I had fewer friends and then I made new friends but my popularity changed. it was like I was a different person. I wasn't the same anymore. I even struggled with fitting in during class. then I started acting out and just getting into trouble all the time. you need to put yourself in a good friend group and also be open-minded to changes. another thing that comes along is relationships whether they be intimate or no they are very hard to deal with. I struggled with a lot of things after I broke up with my first boyfriend.
Yeah, i definitely understand that, friendships change a lot throughout life, especially in high school
Heya!
This is my on Young Writer's Society at 7 pm because I can't think of anything else to do... but anyway
This is a beautiful poem - it covers everything that's real about popularity and its effect on people. The "a strange thing called popularity" bit that you repeat punches hard every time.
It's STRANGE (pun intended) how great this poem is - usually, I don't like rhymed lines in poems, but in this one, whenever it showed up I sat at the edge of my seat and waited for another one. This poem seemed like a story - and obviously, it is a story, but it seemed like I was reading a 500 - page novel in one sitting. XD
The first time I've read a 500 page novel in one sitting *ahem* School for Good and Evil *ahem*...
The only thing I would change AT ALL would be the order. Instead of introducing the poem with those first two stanzas, make the third stanza the first one and just add a line to the beginning such as "I used to have friends". Those 1st and second stanzas could be moved more toward the middle, or maybe even toward the end if that's more your style.
Thank you for gracing us all with this beautiful poem. I enjoyed reading it and writing a review. Hopefully, this was helpful!
Have a good day, night, morning, evening, whatever it is for you when you read this!
Peace,
Myre
Aw, thank you!!! (love the pun) I think that switching the order of the first few stanzas might be a good idea, and I'll definitely mess around with it later.
, but I did read a book called Tell Me Three Things (by Julie Buxbaum) and was high off of it for like a week after
Also - I started reading the school for good and evil a while ago, but I never finished the series
Lol, I get the feeling. Thanks for sharing with me, I'm glad the stanza switch is something you're open to switching.
Also, Tell Me Three Things has been recommended to me before - I should read it!
Wow!
This is a great poem - you definitely show how popularity isn't always as fantastic as people think it is - which in fact links to my own YA contemporary quartet that I'm working on ("Reflections" - check out my excerpts for The Other Side if you get a chance). I love your language and imagery, you feel as though that you're right there next to your character who's experincing what popularity really is - how it can make someone become superficial so well done, you should be proud of this. Honestly, I have no suggestions for improvement, its a fantastically crafted poem that you should share around as much as you can. You definitely show a vast amount of potential as a writer so please keep writing!
Thank you so much!!!!
This is so heart-warming, the repetition was effective and beautiful and the theme of the poem is so true. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people push others down. If this is your real experience, I just want to say that it's never too late to be yourself or to apologise.
I loved the lines 'beating and bloody, pulsing and alive' because it's been written with such clarity and to reference it to this situation makes it seem like everything that made you the person you are, made you alive and breathing, was ripped away from you. It's open to interpretation to what this would then mean for you.
I enjoyed reading this poem, it's so effective. I hope everything turns out okay for you
Thank you! I hope everything turns out ok, and I talk to them again.
It is such a beautiful poetry! The way you described popularity is awesome. And your repetition of those three lines is also awesome.
Overall, it's a thought provoking, realistic, literary poetry work. Whatever, I hope I was able to provide a good review. Your work is really beautifully crafted- it shows the effect of popularity in our everyday lives.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read such a beautiful work.
Thank you so much!! I was hesitant to write the poem, but maybe it payed of.
welcome. please review my works. I like to receive feedback.
ok!