Girlhood
By Hannah Calkin
During my teenage years I lost
My belief in Fairy Tales and pixie dust
But came to see myself as Persephone:
Legend of beauty, freedom, and imprisonment.
A dynamic dichotomy of all sorts.
Daughter to Demeter. You know,
My mother, the prolific goddess, bearing
Corn from dawn till the sun retired
Behind the meadow’s horizon, waving
To me as I shout back a promise to return
With fresh flowers of golden and rose hue
In each of my tender hands.
But what if
I didn’t return?
An odyssey cut short by the seduction
Of pomegranate wine. A date
Above the land where the dead
Wander gray fields,
Or a winter behind bars. Would she give an
Ultimatum to bring me back? Neglect crops
Until I return? Roam the countryside
And leave it barren in her careless wake?
In this manner we are as one,
Caught in the trial that is girlhood
Where we can’t escape
The relocation of the daughter nor the isolation
Of the mother. In this season between girlhood
And womanhood, where the chance of me
Escaping is ever increasing, she is constant
As the monument built to honor her.
Gazing skyward, arms extended, revealing
To the heavens a countenance weathered
With lines and shadow.
Waiting like the stem
Waits for the Narcissus to blossom,
Tilting her ear towards the hardened ground,
Listening for footsteps racing up
From the darkness and laughter unrestrained.
About Author:
Hannah Calkin was born and raised by the coast of southern Maine. She is currently attending the University of Maine at Farmington and majoring in Creative Writing. This past summer she interned with Unwritten Roads, a multi-genre writing, art, and film-making camp based in the Portland area and worked closely with many enthusiastic and creative young students. Some of her favorite things include cats, boats, and Disney tunes. Following graduation, she hopes to settle down in Portland and work as an editor.
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