Bookworms | Teen Ink

Bookworms MAG

By Madeleine Barnes BRONZE, Wexford, Pennsylvania
Madeleine Barnes BRONZE, Wexford, Pennsylvania
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Boy walks, nose-deep into small print
of a yellow book, zig-zags down treacherous
levels of stairs as if only his feet
sense his whereabouts and ankle-up
the kudzu, the other worlds enchanted

anchor him. He reads as if studying
atom splits, enamored with their
sleepwalking between two beings
while classmates dart in and out of lunch lines,
pounding on vending machines. His thumb

makes an even cut into a chapter,
folding over the neatly typed tale, bells sounding
in their wary come-back-boomerang whistle
and a fissure halves his eardrum, his eyelashes
fall apart to the fluorescent quilted ceiling flickering

chalk-like shadows sprawled out on the cafeteria floor
and things like chocolate milk seem filtered from
dream-Bible text and although he is grateful
to be where he is, although he is grateful to touch
on the familiar, he cannot fathom

his own reactions to the real-life stories
where plots confuse at the hand of his author and
resolution never comes. So impatiently he drags a chair
out from beneath a plastic table, picks up where
he left off, remembers his place.



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This article has 91 comments.


Eilatan GOLD said...
on Apr. 16 2010 at 9:56 am
Eilatan GOLD, Old Greenwich, Connecticut
11 articles 1 photo 307 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Nobody is normal. Everybody in the world is a weirdo freak. Except you, which makes you a weirdo freak."

this is amazing.

on Apr. 16 2010 at 6:36 am
yesimdarrian101 BRONZE, Millville, New Jersey
3 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Everything may not be perfect, but at least we tried." Stephen Jerzak/Chase Coy

I totally understand this peom, and it relates to my life so much.

serena said...
on Mar. 25 2010 at 7:29 pm
legolas f/ books or movies?? they are way different. i like the books way better.

i am readin the Fellowship of the Ring right now. I love lotr

serena said...
on Mar. 25 2010 at 7:21 pm
this is very much me i am a girl tho :)

i really like your metaphors and its so true

Wolfayne said...
on Mar. 3 2010 at 11:57 am
This is very good, as well as true! Well, to some people, including me, except I'm a girl

....

ANy way, I love they style. Only problem I have, and it's not much of a problem, is the way the stanzas are arranged.

Please have a look at my stuff and tell me what you think! ;D

on Mar. 1 2010 at 6:19 pm
HaHaHa!! this is so true and so good. my brother reads so much it scares me lol i luv it!

on Feb. 9 2010 at 2:00 pm
Ivagrovegirl BRONZE, Noblesville, Indiana
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everything I've ever done is out of a fear of being mediocre - Chet Atkins

Congrats on a beautiful piece, very nice

KellyR GOLD said...
on Feb. 9 2010 at 12:05 pm
KellyR GOLD, Richmond, Virginia
14 articles 0 photos 258 comments

Favorite Quote:
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

beautiful 5 out of 5

on Jan. 18 2010 at 12:00 pm
PunkRockLobster GOLD, Manhattan, Kansas
17 articles 4 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
Carpe diem quam minime credula postero (Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future)
And if not now, when?

Great! I loved the imagery, and this describes me perfectly :)

Except, I'm a girl.

beowulf said...
on Dec. 5 2009 at 4:08 pm
i like ur use of kennings

on Dec. 5 2009 at 1:14 pm
dylonmichael GOLD, El Dorado, Kansas
10 articles 3 photos 118 comments

Favorite Quote:
i have two one is "live life as if it were your last day on earth" and two is "never make some one your everything because when they leave you you have nothing"

i know so would i it would be awesome

Lostinbooks said...
on Dec. 5 2009 at 12:33 pm
Lostinbooks, Arcadia, California
0 articles 0 photos 63 comments
Good thing there are so many talented writers out there to keep us supplied with dream-vacation stories! I would love to visit some of the places in books...

Lostinbooks said...
on Dec. 5 2009 at 12:31 pm
Lostinbooks, Arcadia, California
0 articles 0 photos 63 comments
So true...

Zobst1 GOLD said...
on Dec. 5 2009 at 10:51 am
Zobst1 GOLD, Buffalo, New York
18 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic." -The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

amazing! the vocabulary and detail used in this piece were both superb!! :) keep it up!

onlyiz said...
on Nov. 13 2009 at 6:10 pm
onlyiz, Boulder, Colorado
0 articles 1 photo 85 comments

Favorite Quote:
“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” - Mark Twain

wow. i love the way this poem started in me slow, and built only after as i thought about what made it so exceptional. of course diction, simile, and how real it felt were executed flawlessly.

on Nov. 13 2009 at 3:49 pm
tomtamtimmy GOLD, Sydney, Other
17 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
you don't know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have

lol thats me. its descriptive. god job

on Nov. 13 2009 at 3:17 pm
Poet_in_Motion PLATINUM, Sharon, Massachusetts
24 articles 0 photos 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love one another." –George Harrison (his last words)

"and down they forgot as up they grew" –e.e. cummings

"The sea is just a wetter version of the sky..." –Regina Spektor

I like this poem very much. I think that the vocabulary makes it in-depth and the similes add graceful imagery to it. The way you described a not-so-common but wonderful trait is beautiful. Please keep writing, you're obviously very skilled in it.

on Nov. 13 2009 at 2:49 pm
heartsday BRONZE, Louisville, Kentucky
2 articles 0 photos 11 comments
This pretty much described me to a T. I love how detail this was, and the comparison of "he reads like an atom splits", but it took me a minute to get.

on Nov. 13 2009 at 10:13 am
oriGINAlity GOLD, Williamsburg, Michigan
10 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
If you follow the crowd you might get lost in it.

Loved it! very very very good!

Emmalee SILVER said...
on Nov. 13 2009 at 7:49 am
Emmalee SILVER, Rayville, Louisiana
9 articles 14 photos 65 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon

Wonderful. :)