I Am The Woman Everyone Loves

A story about human desire in unhealthy people

Who am I? I am a mid-20s woman trapped inside a box society calls womanhood.

I’m a depressed wreck suppressing my issues through the consumption of alcohol and drugs. I promise myself everyday I will quit, but it’s a lie. I’m a liar.

I’m broke & pregnant and trying to sell my body for money but I am too traumatized to enjoy sex. I have a bachelor’s degree in Finance, but I’m unmotivated and ambitious only in my dreams.

I’m a cautious socialite who abandons most friendships after a few months. I’m family oriented, but I’m abandoning my husband and kids next month. I’m a married mans babydoll, but I hate being intimate with him.

I’m a woman unliving in reality yet living within the far corners of my mind. I am someone like you, trying to figure out who I am.

I am a sloth wasting away on a couch but wanting to move.

I am an overachiever wanting to bring world peace.

I am a woman who doesn’t want to be her mother. But be my mother, I shall. It’s a generational curse. The descendants must suffer for the sins of the ancestors.

I am a body of dust, feeling unworthy to be clean.

I am an addict unable to break habits.

I am an illusion that fools millions.

I am a skeptic that no longer believes in God.

I am the “she” in the gossip that spreads.

I am the defect in many lives.

I am who I am because I want to be.

But the world sees me as Emma, the perfect blonde-haired and blue-eyed beauty married to the perfect man, who has the perfect kids and lives the perfect life.

Fools! My hair isn’t naturally blonde.

© Eden Dawson, 2022

Author's Note

feedback appreciated

Reviews

[Ken e Bujold]

this is an incredibly strong, emotive poem Eden. Had me gripped by its easy cadence, and clear concise choices of language. Whether it is autobiographical or not, I won't surmise, but it reads with an authenticity that tells your reader it is a poem that has been deeply considered before being penned.

Ken