She woke up in midsummer as if from a long sleep
Arms aching, lungs filled with dust
Hurtled into the world with stinging eyes
And flushed cheeks
Her leg started bouncing sometime last year,
But she didn’t notice
Until her knees were mauve
From the bottom of her desk
She wants apple cheeks
But instead has strawberry spots
Black nails and black beneath eyes
Knobby knees and the long hair
She complains about to her friends
Every time she sees the sun she spits at it
She is filled with salt and bees
Its light adds insult to injury
A nemesis, a nemesis
To the outside world
Eventually she will realize that the inside is worse
Her hands will stain with blackberry juice
She wraps leaves around her long fingers
Folding, folding, folding
Only to gift them to the next one who needs it
She likes to think the future is predictable,
But only by her
Her visions don’t come in dreams
Even though that’s how they do in the movies
The emails in her inbox make her cry
And so does every poem
Turning her stomach sea green and wisteria
Prickling at her tongue
When she sees the moonlight
Spilling across the sidewalk
She thinks she’ll become–
A love poet
Molly Southgate is a fifteen-year-old poet, musician, podcaster, and actress from a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. She attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 2022 and won a fine arts award in creative writing there. She has a chapter published in the nonfiction anthology book PodLife and has poetry published in the Interlochen High School Creative Writing 2022 Anthology. Molly is currently enrolled in The New School Media Writing Essentials program and will graduate from it in April of 2023. When she isn't writing, she's hosting a podcast where she talks to writers about their books, reading habits, and process called Read Between The Lines: A Book Podcast. Molly is homeschooled and almost done with all of her high school requirements.
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