The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement
The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement
The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement

Ball Gown Scars

A Poem
Naia Marie Loper, Co-Editor-In-Chief • March 28, 2024
Naia Marie Loper
…you sang metallic water through / your lungs…

Ball gown scars itch with the memory of liquid pain spilled across your stage

I followed your midnight summon to suicidal promises broken by broken glass 

No car could drive fast enough, and you fell asleep, headlights flooding

Your front door left to trudge the snowless winter’s edge, oh how you love the edge.

You swore you’d be a ghost by next summer’s dawn– sink stab or drown 

You swore you’d take revenge on which stayed the poette’s hand–

Drunk on aspirin and German steel you sang metallic water through 

your lungs and swore your absence

would leave ball gown scars.

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About the Contributor
Naia Marie Loper
Naia Marie Loper, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Meet Naia Loper (she/her), a Mississippi native and a Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Delta Statement. She is a poet who is working towards a Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies. Passionate and fiercely creative, she is unafraid to discuss whatever bold subject captures her attention. Genres she enjoys to read as well as write. Her favorite styles of writing include southern gothic and stream of consciousness. Her taste in music is wide ranging and nothing short of "bizarre," though Emo will always have a special place in her heart. Naia is an animal lover through and through, with special affection for cats and their abilities to set firm boundaries for themselves.