By: Alexa C.

The word I use the most is “sorry”. I use the word when situations are not my fault. I use it so excessively because of my Chronic Anxiety that builds up within me. This poem is about that feeling in my chest and how it comes to be.

3rd Place · High School Writing (2024)

“I’m Sorry” 

I say with a pounding heart

The words are barely spoken But resonate enough to be heard

Why
Why do I apologize
Apologize for not my wrong doings but for the block lodged in my chest

The heaviness in my body Makes me weary
I cannot breathe
I gasp for air

But no one sees

I do not do well
With the constant fear in me
The fear that bubbles over into my words Describing the twists and turns of my heart The pain in my chest
The fuzziness in my head
And the panic no one sees

I hide it
Hide my face to the world My true feelings do not show The constant fear in me

I do not trust those around Especially not those who contort

They bend truths
The twist their words
They blindly push their views

They create, craft, and construct

A pain in my chest
That bubbles into my words
Words so soft that they are barely spoken