A Start (sestina) | Teen Ink

A Start (sestina)

October 5, 2020
By Haze SILVER, San Francisco, California
Haze SILVER, San Francisco, California
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Just a simple polygon of a girl
Strawberries in the trash can and glass
in the compost; in her cheek is the chunk
She molds, twists, licks the callouses on her hand
I don’t know what to put here
She strives to be more than just amorphous

Relishes the romance, wishes amorphous
was a thing, a tip, a toe, a girl
I don’t know what to put here
The girl has a hand. It moves but slips through glass
A face that can’t be touched or held by hand
A mouth that holds, a fist that chews, the chunk

She wonders what she’d be without this chunk
To clasp, to hold, to shape amazement, amorphous
curio. She questions strawberries: “I need a hand
here. How does it feel to be sweet?” says the girl
“Almost as bad as it feels to touch glass”
I don’t know what to put here

I don’t know what to put here
She sculpts the air; not a chunk
but a cardinal flies from her palm. “Broken glass?”
she asks. A broken taste of shape, amorphous
shapes with toes, a start. A girl?
The polygon pulled by its own hand

A strawberry-red stained hand
I don’t know what to put here
What was a shell, a snail … It’s a girl!
She shuts her eyes and feels the chunk
slip away, a meaningless amorphous
chunk. She has eyes, they cry. Pain, sharp as glass


ticks like a clock as she sprinkles broken glass
in the trash. She has a face, it rests in her hand
Molds, twists, licks the thought of amorphous...
I don’t know what to put here
She cries and steadies herself on a chunk
of glass. A solid chunk of a solid girl

Smooth as unbroken glass; I know what to put here
I recognize my cardinal hand for what it’s worth, a chunk
An amorphous idea, a polygon of a girl


The author's comments:

Hazel Clementine is a highschool freshman in Creative Writing at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. She has three cats, a snake, a tarantula, and pet insects. Hazel was asked to perform her poetry at the Youth Arts Summit, and her work can be found in Tiny Day, San Francisco's smallest newspaper. In addition to creative writing, Hazel enjoys drawing, singing, and acting. 

"A Start" is a sestina, a fixed form of poetry with a specific structure. This piece can be interpreted many ways, including as a coming of age poem, or a discovery of identity. 


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