Price of Poise

Isabella Abalo ‘29

This piece symbolizes the pain masked behind the façade of perfection. Before making this drawing I asked myself, “What can I draw to show how rough being impeccable really is?” And then it hit me: a ballerina’s feet. Their pointe shoes are a beautiful pink lace, and their postures perfect. Yet, as soon as they remove their shoes, their cuts and bruises become prevalent. The struggle of appearing perfect is unreal. This doesn’t apply to ballet; it applies to everyday life. For instance, behind every perfect grade is 6 hours of harsh studying. Underneath every beautiful Medieval girls dress is a corset so tight it hurts to breathe. Therefore, this is the concept I strove to illustrate in this piece.

Atmospheric

Cool mist seeping through my skin and into my soul

The kind of chill that’s hard to forget

Piercing every molecule of my body till the pain is excruciating.

I can’t think about it.

I can’t let myself think about it.

It soothes me like the sound of falling rain

Tricking my mind into thinking there is nothing wrong

Almost believing it

But not quite.

But then it hits me like a blast in the face,

Forcing me to inhale the toxic aroma of sea breeze, the salt biting at me,

Teardrops threatening to spill over my stinging eyes

Don’t think about it

Don’t let yourself thing about it

The wave pulls me under,

the undertow dragging me away from the surface

Threatening to pull me back into my sea of grief.

The current’s jaws won’t release me

Puncturing feelings of pain, despair, hopelessness into me.

I can’t escape it.

The current subsides, leaving me stranded, empty, drained.

I can’t go back.

I can’t go forward.

Nothing could ever be the same.

I will stay frozen in this moment,

Stuck in the open, gray, endless ocean

Stranded here forever.

Olivia Luke ‘29

This poem is written about my different experiences of grief. It begins with describing the shock and denial of the loss of someone. The poem then transitions to finally facing that grief, letting yourself be present in it, and finally beginning to process. The poem finishes with the realization that even though you have faced grief, that person is truly gone, and sometimes staying in denial is more comforting than facing reality.