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.