when they take you, jane

lilly green

Perfection is

saline stumbling down your blush

every blurry Monday.

A Revlon smile

strains over blemishes, rarer

than a ringing doorbell, genuine as promises.

Nighttime drags,

drowned in memories.

Painful as

living your own death.

Dishonest candor,

bitter with reality,

leaves you forever on floors.

Smothered in shame.

Comrades and paramours

rise like leaves,

fall like snow,

decompose

in desperation.

And when They do take you, jane,

I suspect you’ve walked the routes before.

Will you go silently?


Lilly Green (she/her) is a First-Year Writing and Screen Cultures major. She gets most of her poems from silly ideas that pop into her head that she just happens to remember to write down. Others derive from her own experiences and struggles. Outside of writing, Lilly loves to sing, swim, play pool, and watch movies.