The Fall Effect
By Zarria, 16, Illinois
I haven’t written or read in a while because it’s fall.
Fall is when the days sharpen their coldness and twist you around with their breath.
Fall is when I disappear. I become invisible to myself, almost a stranger. I can no longer find my element because when fall comes, we all fall down.
When trees are plucked I become one with their fallen fruits. Cold and null. Bright and bitter. Torn from the isolation of its branch. I am the hurt that fall brings because when fall comes, we all fall down.
When the rate of the day begins to slow, sadness erupts and I begin to feel the need to feel something new, something other than what I already do.
Looking for something turns into a thrust of hunger, an instant now, an instant need.
So when that happens I find myself through pages of books, lyrics of song, poems — anything that’ll catch me, because when fall comes we all fall down.
To mend the broken heart that this season brings, I find my joy in the expression of self, in the expression of creative journeys.
My inspiration behind this poem would simply be the seasonal sadness that I endure during fall. I began to notice this pattern of seasonal sadness around two years ago, every time the seasons altered to fall. I simply wanted to express how our environment can affect our mental health.
