Contributor: Kyle Shafer

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I sit at my desk
slumped
a soldier
buried deep in a trench
waiting out his final days on the front line.

I am a patient
lingering faintly in his bed
surrounded by sickly peers
deathly sounds
ready to move on to a distant place.

Doodles occupy my book page after page
an obituary burdened with murdered thoughts.

The clock beats echo
inside my skull
like water droplets
hammering down on my forehead

the torture is ended finally
one last, deafening hammer liberates me.


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Kyle Shafer is a junior at Pompton Lakes High School. He is excited about sharing his poetry with the rest of the world.