“Long Distance Sadness” © Edward Michael Supranowicz

 

Suicide Recess

We played suicide
When I was seven
The monitors at recess
Turned a deaf ear
Until the letter home to parents
And the boys
Along with a few girls
Brought a lacross ball
Over to the tall wall
A boarded structure broad
Like a monolith
If you hit the ball
Against the wall
And it passed off
The hard top
Then you were out.
You had the chance
To kill yourself.
And doesn’t that just
Hold a mirror up to life?
Never mind pills or a gun,
rope, razor, alcohol, or
the internal monologues
Of your personal strangers—
You had the chance to
Kill yourself by

Trying too hard.
If the ball was struck
By force too great
Its ricochet could not be caught
And that was that.
And that was you.

 

Andrew O’Brien is a teacher learning to juggle with spheres and hoping it will help with his busy life. English language arts, martial arts, and a very demanding cat keep Andrew busy, but his aspirations to be published have remained constant since high school classes with that one amazing teacher who inspired him. Andrew lives near Boston, Massachusetts with his very smart wife and evil feline.

Edward Michael Supranowicz has had artwork and poems published in the US and other countries. Both sides of his family worked in the coalmines and steel mills of Appalachia.

 

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