Single Tears Down My Left Cheek

Contemporary / Modern Poetry Human Written by Marie Bare · Oct 06, 2026

“Are you okay?”

No. My best friend of 13 weeks has refused to talk to me, refused to look at me, refused to watch me dance, refused to have any human contact with me and she’s interacting with everyone around her even a person she hates and she’s so much better at dancing now than she was when we were like twist ties and her mom read our texts about suicide and self harm and writing poetry and now her phone is gone for what has now been two weeks and she’s told other people about it except me and I’m scared for my life about what I’ve done and how I’m going to solve it and I hope she’s doing okay even though I’m not because I cant even watch her dance without shedding a single tear and I guess she’s better off without me because she’s improved a lot more than she ever would’ve when we were best friends and I’m now realizing no one knowing her feelings and her thoughts and plans of suicide was good for her because now she can’t talk to the one who knew everything and I’m now seeing that I’m the soil to every problem imaginable.

“Yeah, just stressed about my math grade.”

“It’s okay, it’s just a grade. Grades don’t define you.”

but she does.

About This Poem

It’s how terrible of a friend I am for giving my best friend a place to share her emotions, but overall making her mental health worsen. She’s never had someone to trust enough to tell anything to, but when she did, her mom found out and saw our texts about suicide plans, self harm, and the medical issues she’s having. I’ve realized that I am the root of it, as if I never brought any of it up, she would still be writing in her purple poetry book, where her mom, nor anyone else knows about.

How did this poem make you feel?

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Poem Analysis

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Analysis Available

This poem captures the raw emotional turmoil of a fractured friendship and the speaker's internal struggle with feelings of inadequacy and loss. Its stream-of-consciousness style effectively conveys a sense of immediacy and emotional intensity, though it lacks structural refinement.

Strengths

The poem's opening question, 'Are you okay?', sets a poignant tone that resonates throughout the piece.
The stream-of-consciousness style effectively mirrors the speaker's chaotic emotional state, particularly in the long, unbroken sentence that dominates the poem.
The closing line, 'but she does,' provides a powerful and succinct conclusion that encapsulates the speaker's internal conflict and sense of identity.

Areas for Improvement

The poem's lack of punctuation in the main body makes it difficult to follow and detracts from its readability.
The abrupt shift from the main narrative to the dialogue about grades is jarring and disrupts the emotional flow of the poem.

Imagery

The poem relies heavily on emotional rather than visual imagery, focusing on the speaker's feelings of abandonment and inadequacy. The metaphor of being 'like twist ties' suggests a once-close connection that has become tangled and broken. The reference to 'the soil to every problem imaginable' vividly conveys the speaker's sense of culpability and worthlessness.

Structure

The poem is structured in a free verse format with no clear meter or rhyme scheme. The use of a single, extended sentence reflects the speaker's overwhelmed mental state. The dialogue interspersed at the beginning and end serves as a framing device but contrasts sharply with the main narrative, which could be more seamlessly integrated.

Language & Craft

The diction is informal and conversational, which suits the confessional tone of the poem. The repetition of 'refused' emphasizes the speaker's sense of rejection. However, the lack of varied sentence structure and punctuation limits the poem's linguistic complexity.

Emotional Impact

The poem effectively conveys a sense of desperation and emotional vulnerability, drawing the reader into the speaker's internal conflict. The raw honesty of the speaker's voice is compelling, though the poem's structural issues may hinder its full emotional potential.