September 2020/Vol. 1/Issue 3
A way l i a S
Boxed Poetry
Contents Sail Away Ele Gordon
My Fate Maddie Dean
First Sight of Love Jae Fisher
To cherished places and new seasons. Acacia Mitchell
Editor's Letter
Watching life unfold before your eyes is magical. The sun’s rays touch the dewdrops on leaves creating a miniature rainbow. A child who’s petting a horse for the first time smiles up at you, dimples showing from her tiny features. You smile at the horse even though you experience this everyday. Moments are so delicate. They are there and then they’re gone, skipping off into the sunset. Other times, life gives you lemons. When trouble unfolds before your eyes and you just cry. What you never imagined happens. Change feels like it’s at every turn, hiding under the dust. We’re expecting the experts to be wrong in their analysis. How can you go on living life like this? Soon it will get back to normal. This is where the lie begins. This is normal. This will be normal. But the question is: What will you do with it? I feel that Acacia Mitchell, a teen writer, who has written a poetry collection titled Waiting Spaces, is a perfect example. Inside, you can find poems that are meant for you.
Each poem is written to a specific type of person. The one you will be reading today is named, "To cherished places and new seasons," which focuses on remembering the past yet still embracing the future. I hope you cherish these poems as a way to remember that you’re not alone. No matter what it feels like.
d r a W . R. W
Sail Away by Ele Gordon
All I want to do is halt, Live forever in the past, The rapids of change sting like salt I'll hold tight to mizzenmast Gaze in longing at the comfort That I’m fast departing from I want to hide where there’s no hurt Let myself go numb Think back to when I always smiled Back when life was only fun I so want so stay a while But those cheerful days are done Now to future I must look Though uncertainty makes me fear I cannot bury myself in some nook
I must not shed a tear I must cling to the foremast Lean on the jibboom Make more memories that will last Don’t imagine imminent doom I will think of things to come I will not veer astray Only think of the past some I will sail away Author's Note I wrote this poem because things have been changing like crazy in my life right now. I was struggling with flashback of memories, and stuff was hard for awhile. Writing this was like a final resolve that I was going to quit looking back. I'd recently been learning about sailing vessels, and thought that it could be a good analogy. I hope you enjoyed it!
My Fate by Maddie Dean
I’m brought medicine I walk into a waiting area They did a blood test I sit down in a chair I’m hooked to an IV I am called into a room They say I must rest. Should I enter, do I dare? I’m stuck in this hospital They say my disease is back Time passes by How could this be I miss my own life My mother is anxious I’ll have none if I die. Why would this happen to me? Some nurses bring me toys My mother says it’s okay They want me to have fun I start to calm down I don’t understand The doctor is smiling When my life could be done. She should have a frown. I’m taken out of my room I’m showed to a room I’m sent to a floor I’m put in a bed I’m put into machines Everyone’s silent. Will my life be no more? Will I wind up dead?
I’m sent back to my room I’m told to wait I’m getting nervous What will be my fate? The nurse comes in There is no more sound The nurse says No disease can be found. I’m released from the hospital I can be me I can live my best life I’m finally free! Author's Note My name is Maddie Dean and I have been a Riley kid since the age of 3, due to my rare diagnosis of Juvenile Dermatomyositis. Some of the ways I express myself is through poetry and art. My poem entitled “My Fate” is about my journey with my disease, being in and out of hospitals and the fears that I felt. As I was writing this poem I started reliving memories and quickly wrote my thoughts down. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the uncertainties that someone faces while battling a disease.
The First Sight of Love It is the sunny Warmth on my skin that I Have been waiting for My whole life. I just noticed it When you arrived today.
by Jae Fisher
from Waiting Spaces
To cherished places and new seasons. by Acacia Mitchell Bittersweet sunset meets the horizon and I realize it’s time to move away. Sunsets fade and so do memories revisiting this place means remembering not only the things that I wish I could forget but also letting myself see the good. I’m not sure which hurts worse never seeing beauty or never forgetting it never letting it wash over your soul and ease your tired mind or lying awake every night wish that you could go back. They say that everything comes in time but the longer that you watch a sunset the more its colours subtly blend and bend and mend themselves from one seamless skyline to another.
Soon you can’t tell them apart from each other. It’s gone and we say that this explosion of colour has become less. Less entrancing, more mess. Something that takes more steps to find the allure and the peace and the rest. Why do we expect big experiences to be the most gratifying? Maybe as this sunset fades from beauty and fire to the end of the day you’ll find in deep hues of blue and small specks of light it's bittersweet for old days to dim but this time of night has its own glory.
Author's Note Waiting Spaces was written to friends. To those who are lost, to those who are waiting for redemption. In a world where people often strive to appear as if they have it all together, Waiting Spaces seeks to remind us that the in-between times are just as sacred and meaningful as the certain ones.
To cherished places and new seasons Waiting Spaces can be brought on amazon Website:Â https://boxedpoetry.word press.com/ Email: boxedpoetry@icloud.com
Painting by Zion D.