Sick — Summary

the world will always spin, she hopes and the moon won't rise at seven but nine and summer will last forever so she can stay where she belongs curled up small in her bed at noon eyes locked, door closed

the world will always spin, she thinks just like the moon will always rise at seven or nine or eight-thirty and summer will slip into fall taking her and you and everyone with it and it will never stop never stop twisting, turning like a broken record

she's motion-sick because of you staying still in a mad hope that you won't look into her eyes see her spinning, complex, traumatized world and know that you've won that the score is settled and the war is over

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The speaker of "Sick" is a girl hiding in her bed at noon, eyes shut and door closed, wishing the world would simply stop moving. She hopes the moon will rise later and summer will never end, because as long as time stands still, she doesn't have to leave her room. But in the second stanza her hope gives way to dread. The moon will rise, summer will turn to fall, and everything will keep "twisting, turning like a broken record."

The last stanza reveals that "you" are the cause. She feels motion-sick because of this person, and she lies still so they won't look into her eyes and see her "traumatized world." The language of war, with "won," "score" and "settled," suggests she believes that seeing her pain would give this person victory. The mood is heavy, anxious and exhausted. It captures the feeling of being overwhelmed, where hiding seems like the only defense left.

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