By Morgan Lin

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This is a story of a woman, shackled with chains. She tries so hard to break free and be with the one she truly loves, which leads to her demise.

Death
Cold
Desire

These words replayed
in my head
as my life flashed 
before my eyes

Quicker than a clap of thunder
On a 
stormy,
ominous night.

Death
Cold
Desire

I will
never forget
how fast I ran
For freedom to 
escape my death

The man I once knew 
And loved
shackled me with chains so tight
I could barely move

All because of his love
for me
A restraining desire that
couldn’t be 
reckoned with

Death
Cold 
Desire

Passion  
And fervor

Longing for a man
to rescue me
With
loving arms
To free me from 
my shackles

Death
Cold
Desire

Streaks of yellow
pass by me

Life violently extinguished
In a blink
of an eye

Love
All because
Of love

Left me
Dead and alone
On a cold,
Heartless ground

Why did I trust 
this man to save me?

Took
the life I lost before
Away from me
Once more

Left my body 
Mangled
Thick,
Cold blood

As I faded away
as a ghostly
Apparition
In a whisper of smoke

All I could 
think of
Was

Death
Cold
Desire

Three words 
That left me
With 
No words
At all.

Process

I wrote this piece as an assignment for my English class. The prompt was to write Myrtle’s point of view during her death in The Great Gatsby. I had no idea how to approach this at first, so I just started writing three simple words that I felt encompassed the feelings that I thought Myrtle had during her death. Death. Cold. Desire. I have always loved using powerful words to convey a deeper meaning, and I found it extremely important to repeat these words over and over again to leave a resounding effect on my readers. My greatest desire was for them to hear Myrtle’s side of the story and feel what she was feeling down to their core and understand the intensity of the situation. After reading the piece out loud to my class, many of my classmates gave me feedback that the piece sounded like slam poetry. I guess even when I don’t intend to write poetry, my slam poet side always shines through unintentionally. Curious to see how the words would flow if formed into a poem, I converted the massive paragraph into stanzas of powerful words. I hope my readers will relate to this piece and understand that many people share in their own struggles, hopes, desires, and sadness. Most importantly, I hope one of their takeaways is that they are not alone.