Curved Spine and Pelvis Illustration
Having spent summer at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Design, I spent countless hours with my group of Life Science Illustration students observing and recreating the world before our eyes. I was drawn to a partially intact spine and pelvis provided by our instructors, and spent time in between other projects creating a hyper-realistic interpretation of it. Choosing purples, pinks, and blues, acting as a stark contrast with the stricter and more professional color palette of medical textbooks, adding my signature of expressive colors to my creation.
Emmy Harkin ‘28
A Part of Me is Lying On the Side of the Road
Crumpled and used
My body is broken
And my hair is flung about
A crown of gold
A lions mane
A halo
And my face is so gentle
Like I’m resting after a
Long day, peaceful
And my head does not hurt
And my heart does not hurt
And my mind does not hurt
And my fingers are thin and pretty
Fit for a ring or soft silk gloves or
A kiss from a lover
And my knees are bent
In prayer
Like I’ve gone to church
In a pristine white dress
To pray for others and
Not myself
(But now I am in a warm set of joggers
And the dirt looks like continents
In constant motion across my waist
So delicate and small
And even the coroner calls me pretty)
And my spine is in my throat but
It makes me an enigma
Intriguing
Enticing
And I’m all anyone can talk about
Mysterious
And my neck is bleeding but
The red is a scarf or a gorgeous necklace
Framing my face like
Undead roses
(Ephemeral)
And I am missing a piece of myself
But it doesn’t matter anymore
This poem is kind of inspired by my experiences with anxiety and suicidal ideation, as well as my need to be liked by my peers and the people around me. Middle school definitely exacerbated these problems for me, but I have gotten much better at dealing with my mental health in the past year or so. Anyway, writing has always been an outlet of sorts for me to deal with life events, and I've recently had more of an interest in poetry and writing poems, so I wanted to try writing one about my mental health experience.