Angsty poetry of my youth

[osprey_archer]

I have found YET MORE NOTEBOOKS from the days of my youth, and these contain ANGSTY POETRY.

Sadly none of it is dated, but this one must be from junior high, as it comes from a notebook in which I carefully tabulated my favorite books up through 2001, carefully labeling all the Newbery and Newbery Honor books because I have always been Like This about the Newberies. I also marked the books by genre: M=Magic, R=Realistic, and H=Historical, and then counted out the number of books from each genre: 27 M, 9 R, and 4 H.

BUT I DIGRESS. I promised angsty poetry, and by god I will not keep you from it any longer!

Darkness.
No shadows, no
essence of
light
to cast the

blackness
off, away, but
there is no
way, none,
to.

There is nothing
no
seeing, hearing
taste, smelling, touch.
No Emotion.

None known, all
lost, far off,
impenetrable
black.
I know nothing

No.
I know
one, I know
alone.
I am alone.

Comments

[rmc28]

Oh my. That is very angsty poetry.

[osprey_archer]

I had absolutely NO chill when I was 13.

[calandrahunter]

You can tell it's angsty poetry when there's random dramatic linebreaks!

[osprey_archer]

My thirteen-year-old self cries out in protest. The line breaks are not random! They are deeply meaningful and well-thought-out! (WERE THEY, younger self?)

[calandrahunter]

They were SYMBOLIC!!

[asakiyume]

Awwww! Poor middle-school you! She expresses so well that feeling.

[osprey_archer]

Junior high is a difficult time! Poetry is a good outlet. There's a reason young emo poet is such an enduring stereotype.

[genarti]

Awwwww, what beautifully junior high angsty poetry!!

I mean, what deep and meaningful angsty poetry. No, it is -- the meaning may be "I am lonely and 13 and also enjoy Poetry of Woe" but nonetheless. Thank you for sharing this find!

Also, I love wee you carefully tabulating Newbery book genres!

[osprey_archer]

If I ever write a book where I need a character to write Angsty Teen Poetry I am absolutely bunging this in there. It's truly a classic of the genre.

The list was favorite books, and only some were Newberies (the Newberies simply do NOT have that high a prevalence of magical books!), but by God I wanted to be sure I knew at a glance which ones.

[littlerhymes]

STUNNING AND MASTERFUL!

I love that you have been tabulating Newberies forever. This is a lifelong quest!

[osprey_archer]

Truly the quest goes ever on and on! There have been occasional hiatuses but it has never died.

[ivy]

Hahaha, this is amazing and relatable; thank you for sharing it. (I rhymed rain and pain and again in one of mine, about how my heart was like a wet kitten sitting on the doorstep and not being let in the house.)

[osprey_archer]

my heart was like a wet kitten sitting on the doorstep and not being let in the house

I love this. PEAK teenage angst right there. Someone should build an entire YA novel around this image.