A Poem, a Memory 7

gutenberg.ca

 

On Christmas Day, Charlie's gift to Patrick for Secret Santa is a poem - a long, graphic, and meaningful poem that was once a suicide note.  This poem tells the cycle of the author's life, starting from when he was very young and his sister was just a newborn.  His life progressively becomes worse and worse as he ages, and that leads him to slit each one of his "damned wrists" and hang them on the bathroom door.  He eventually bleeds to death. 

I think that the Charlie's choice of this poem had something to do with Michael, his best friend who is now dead.  Michael was so important to Charlie; Charlie thinks about him so often and has a special place for him inside of Charlie's heart.  The fact that he read this to Patrick, his closest friend since Michael's passing, shows his love for Patrick.  It is also his way of telling Patrick about Michael, and how he does not want Patrick to do the same.