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Strip Mining of the Skin

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The smile on the face of the girl in pain

She’s looking out the window,

Waiting for the rain to fade.

From black eyes, everything is shades of gray—

Lifeless, meaningless—but classic.

–Hiding inside every chamber,

Running through every stream,

Lurking in the hollows—

Tear it apart and destroy the scene.

Strip mining of the skin

To feed the flame that makes you live

But supply’ll run low,

And it’ll be death you hold.

The land is dead and there’ll be no fuel

The rain’ll muddy the destroyed earth

Dirtying all the beauty that withstood.

But even then, there’s a irksome smile

Behind all this pain.

If you really try you can see the good

Just have to look through twisted lens

And a crooked heart

Then you’ll imagine a light in the dark.

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Copyright 2009 by Teen Ink, The 21st Century and The Young Authors Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher: The Young Authors Foundation, Inc.

Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book and website featuring teen writing, information, art, photos, poetry, teen issues and more. All articles are written by teen authors who are students at schools. The monthly print magazine is appropriate for any teenager -- teenagers age 13 to 19 attending secondary school: junior high school, middle school and high school. This publication is used by professional people including English teachers, writing teachers, language arts instructors, journalism teachers, school newspaper advisors, librarians, guidance counselors, K-12 principals in addition to the PTA or PTO. Each issue of Teen Ink magazine contains a wide variety of student work: we publish nonfiction, fiction, poems, community service, sports, heroes, interviews, college essays, college reviews, book reviews, concert reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, video reviews, video game reviews, the environment, opinion, sports, pets, cars, automobiles, travel and culture, jobs and money, health issues, artwork, photographs, cartoons, short stories, essays, writing contests, a college directory and the website also has a bulletin board and resources for teens and educators. Subjects include racism, eating disorders, depression, death, suicide, family, relationships, jobs, grandparents, violence, the college process, college information, colleges, driving, self esteem, the arts, movies and more. Teen Ink is also a book series published by HCI Teens. Subjects covered in the book include Friends, Fitting In, Love, Challenges, Family, Heroes, Loss and Memories. Teen Ink was established in 1989 as The 21st Century magazine by The Young Authors Foundation, a nonprofit organization. More than 25,000 teens have been published in the magazine and its companion Poetry Journal. Teen Ink runs a London Summer Program for teenage writers.