Every Last Word

by Tamara Ireland Stone

I have a mental illness and four superficial friends. Surely I have more fodder for a poetic career than to need an ugly orange couch.

try to. I like to know where I stand with people, and I figure I owe them the same courtesy. I mean, I’m never rude or hurtful about it, but I don’t see any reason to be fake. That’s a lot of work.”

The poems here are silly, heartbreaking, hilarious, sad, and many are absolutely incredible. They’re about people who don’t care enough and people who care too much, people you trust and people who turn on you, hating school, loving your friends, seeing the beauty in the world. Sprinkled among them are heavier ones about depression and addiction, self-mutilation and various forms of self-medication. But most of them are about love.

embrace who you are and surround yourself with people who do the same.”

She’s right. It does sound normal. My life might not be perfect and my brain might play tricks on me and I might be overwhelmed by my own thoughts, but now that I think about it, I’m lucky to have as much normal as I do.