A Thank-You Note to Society by Hannah Harvey

I am chained.
Chained like the creatures in my head
Like a butterfly whose wings are pinned
“keep your thoughts in check,”
they said.
Don’t think about the addicts or the 5-year-old cancer patients that
“they’ve done all they can” for.
Chained.
Don’t think about the runaways, or the methheads, sad boys and girls, sad, lonely world
Don’t stand up for what you believe in
save
…….your
………….breath.
Chained.
There are almost 8 billion people alive.
Don’t mourn the 103 billion who have ever died.
Don’t dwell on the racing of time or the words with no rhymes or the sad little hotels with buzzing vacancy signs.
Don’t think about the wars we are all losing or the lungs and livers we are killing with our poisons.
Chained.
Like a butterfly whose wings have been pinned
Like the butterfly in my head.
I better take notes on the way her wings bend because she’s not going anywhere.
“just notice the beautiful things, the nice things, and the ‘it’ll all be alright’ things”
Chained.
starless nights, pointless fights
life and death
first screams, final breath
Chained.
haters, lovers
dark world
sad world
lonely world mad world
“try finding shapes in the clouds or wishing on stars. Just breathe. Try counting to ten.”
1
…2
…..3
…….4
“chain those creatures in your head. keep your thoughts in check.”
5
…6
……7
Chained.
Stop having an addiction to fiction
stop believing this life is an equation that you can break down and understand
YOU CAN’T!
Like a butterfly whose wings have been pinned
8
…9
…..10
Chained.

Hannah Harvey lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She can be found with her books, buried in a novel, drinking tea, listening to indie music (Wolf Larsen is bae), thrift shopping downtown, or writing. She one day hopes to be an English major and work in publishing. After that, maybe she’ll buy a house in Cape Cod and chill.