As promised, I dug up some more poetry from high school in honor of National Poetry Month.
This one is actually a twofer.
I found this tucked into the pages of my poetry notebook, and I’m imagining it’s the result of a Gallimaufry exercise. I can see how my poetry voice was starting to come out, instead of relying on cliches and melodramatic, high school girl language.
I’m not too embarrassed by these. I’m not sure exactly what they mean, and these two poems couldn’t be more disconnected even though I’ve plopped them together, but at least they’re not completely mortifying. More of those to come this month.
smile by number
by: Stefanie Spiro, age 17
No. 1 with a smile
In times of uncertainty
I swear that forever and ever,
time will go on, and even then
I’ll still believe that I can stop it,
if just for a moment,
with the photos of life
smiles freckles birthdays
and the ones we take by accident
when no one is looking
the pictures that don’t find
a place in your albums.
No. 2 with a smile
let’s feel weightless in the water,
swim to the water above our heads
and just float out there with the current
slowly churning us in the pace
of wave
rocking us gently into flight
like the weightless feather
like the cloud minus density
like the moon because it’s fixed
in the sky, despite its figure,
filling out at the hips as the week progresses
how can the moon fluctuate like this?
If sound carried in space I would give her a talk
and say these crash diets of stars
and constellations
aren’t good for her glow.
stick with the comets, stick with your eclipse.