Merrick Mendenhall, a rising junior at Burlington High School, describes her inspiration for her poem, "Life Behind Sunglasses": “I was inspired to write a poem based on the idea that the world changes when you put on a pair of sunglasses. When the idea first came to me I actually wrote it down in my phone and forgot about it until a few weeks later when I came across the idea again and decided to finally bring it to life in a poem.”
Life Behind Sunglasses
By Merrick Mendenhall
Grade Eleven, Burlington High School
Life is better behind sunglasses.
Everything dulls into a soft grey.
The sun becomes a white orb, floating in the sky,
Not an overwhelming presence, dominating your vision.
Life is better behind sunglasses.
Your eyes relax, and your breathing slows as you take in the greyness of the world around you.
Life is better behind sunglasses.
The faces around you aren’t as frightening,
The chemically white grins no longer blind you
And you can finally see their eyes.
Better yet, they can’t see yours.
Life is better behind sunglasses.
The world is your oyster,
Yours to explore with your eyes.
No one can see where your gaze lingers, you can stare a person in the eye and they never have to know.
You can pretend to be asleep on long car rides,
And instead watch as the world flies by your car window.
Life is better behind sunglasses.
You can silently cry in public and no one will be the wiser.
Life is dark behind sunglasses.
Learn more about the Young Writers Project's Summer of Stories Challenge.
