We’re not here to discuss Edgar Allen Poe or any other popular poet you know and love. The most disturbing topics for poetry are fact and not fiction. If you’re faint of heart, then please leave now. These are adult topics. If you have children, we urge you to discuss subjects like bullying, sexual abuse, and harassment — most of which are much more commonly experienced in junior high or high school with people they know rather than people they don’t.
One such case of sexual abuse occurred in an Idaho school where three high school football players allegedly sexually assaulted a special needs individual who eventually sent a poem called the World is not used to people like me to Buzzfeed.
It reads:
The Worlds not used to people like me
They still have Hitler within their hearts they
Think that being different is a sign of
Weak and bullying can get them far
But what society doesn’t know is that a kicked
in hanger can bruise and penetrate the heart
It leaves you walking on a stub because
Of the burden put on you by the people
That you thought you once loved
The Worlds not use to people like me
Like Alex, it likes to pound you to
The ground and lock the door
For your opportunities and leave you
Helpless with a sound
Why lord why does this happen to us send
Us to earth to be sent to the back
Of the bus
The assaulted teen and his sexual abuse lawyer were responsible for sending the poem to be read by others who had experienced similar circumstances, and urge others to speak out when it happens to them.
You can find additional poems on similar topics like The Script, That Look, or Years Have Past at Into the Light. Anonymous author Abigail shared a poem called Gaps, which reads:
Gaps in the graphics,
Always knew they were there,
But stuff I saw made me
More reluctant to share
It was fresh, it was new,
Never been there before,
And the scary specifics
Made me feel like a whore
I know if I trust You
I’ll come out the other side,
With more freedom than ever,
Nothing to prove, lose, or hide.
Gaps in the graphics,
Want them to stay as they are
Then once and forever,
That ship can sail afar.
How would you interpret the poem? At first glance, it could have nothing to do with sexual assault. The narrator is, at its deepest meaning, discussing the subject of trust thematically. How long does it take to trust someone enough to feel “freedom” on the open waters of life? Ultimately, the poem seems to address the darker realities of some relationships that don’t work even when we might like them to. While Gaps is subtle in subject content, we can infer deeper meaning from the author’s other poems that can be viewed on the same site.