Danielle Liguori, a junior at Essex High School, says she wrote this poem to help convince a friend that sometimes it's better "to give up things that are important to us because they are not good for us and damage our health."  She read the poem at a Young Writers' Project poetry slam and, with it, progressed to the second round. "It was my first poetry slam," she says. "The poems I heard that night were awe-inspiring and the positive experience drew me to return to the next slam, and the next."

with that man on the moon man he's miles'n'miles off
one thousand two thousand three thousand, four, 
you're falling too soon and when you hit the floor 
it will hurt.
It will ache.
All your breath it will take 
and your gentle heartbreak and 
sometimes he's not even there,
but occasionally he's everywhere and
that's when you swear
you'll hold his hand, touch his heart 
bring him down to the ground to take him out 
of his lonesome exile in the clouds back to life, 
earth, 
time, 
a new start. 
It'll just take a while, you say. 
When he's down here, he'll stay 
and he'll love you as much as you always proclaim - can't you see? 
It can never be. You look kind of like me 
and it's kind of... scary. 
Don't you see, don't you see, 
his face is the only thing you'll ever see, 
and even that is smudged, dark, 
like the mournful despairing black song of the lark. 
And you despair. 
Look there. 
No visible body no teeth and no hair 
just a cryptic lip-smile that's just-barely-there. 
And you say it's unjust but hun life is unfair. 
And this may seem harsh but don't think I don't care 
'cause I do! 
Don't think I'm trying to make you hurt 
'cause I care about you and I'm trying to spare you the pain. 
And the tears in the rain. 
Don't let this get worse. 
If you shoot for the moon they say they say you'll land amongst the stars. 
You don't like proverbs anyway 
but that's not the point. 
Lost love always scars. 
You're too attached
and your roof of reason is nothing but thatch and 
hitting the stars would set you on fire if the moon 
is all you will have. 
And if your heart stops beating, well... You will die sad. 
I don't want that. 
I don't want to say you can't have what you want, only... 
you can't have what's not there. 
I've seen what happens to those who so swear. 
Eyes empty, faces gaunt - that's not what I want. 
Set him free. 
Take my hand, come with me. 
We'll make a stand for who we are 
and what we want to be.