Theresa Egan

Laurel School, Shaker Heights, Ohio

 

When I was a little girl,

My thanks never meant more than a genetically mutated goldfish

But my influence was transparent like filtered water from a kitchen sink

And my love and aggravation had wings to soar outside my integumentary bedroom.

When I was a young girl,

I spoke the truth with protruding branches.

Mother called back my obtuse gifts

But I leaped and bounded through golden oblivion.

When I was a middle school child,

Priority and commitment warred like the Greeks and Trojans,

Impurities broke the surface and required tools for fixing,

Tools like consciousness, carelessness, and metal wires.

Now I am a teenager in high school.

A veil has been lifted from my once glowing aura

Revealing a peculiar creature with mangled joy and wilting grace

Where Pandora’s box thrives with animosity inside a beating heart in wait.