Literary Interests
I love reading and writing! I run an Instagram account (@angelasbooks1) where I review and rate the books I read. I am also an Editor at my school’s literary magazine called Young Ideas. I edit work submitted by my peers. My poem was chosen to be printed in our annual magazine! You can read it below!
I have three new poems - Abecedarian, American Sonnet, and Sestina below.
All the Way Up
“Ang is hard to deal with on planes.”
Because Ang is struggling with
Crippling anxiety that she
Deals with quite often.
Every time she is about to
Fly it’s a huge issue. She can’t
Go on planes. When she is
High all the way up in the sky
It's then that it hits her.
Just like that it will essentially
Karate kick her in the gut.
Laugh, people think it’s funny.
My mother thinks so. Me,
Not so much. It’s my own struggle.
Olympic Air has the best
Puke bags. They have
Quite an easy design to
Rip open (I know this is gross) but also
Spit up in. To be honest
Television isn’t a good distracter
Up in the sky it takes
Very little, a small half of a pill to
Wash away my anxieties.
Xanax does the job well
Why do I need this? Why do I do this to myself?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
American Sonnet
Namesake
Everyone says we are one in the same.
The way we annunciate, our mannerism, the way we talk.
It’s not even just the fact that we have the same name,
Your mother has even told me our hips sway the same when we walk
You weren’t meant to be my name sake, my fathers mother was.
In typical fashion, you chose to break family tradition because
“I didn’t carry you for nine months to name you after my mother in law.”
You started your own matriarchal traditions.
The tradition of education for women in our family.
You once told me “the most powerful weapon a woman can have is her mind.”
Our connection goes beyond our name and well beyond our blood.
It’s in the fact that we both measure success in the value of happiness.
You are my ultimate muse, you filled my mind with limitless opportunities.
It has been my lifes privilege to not only be your daughter, but your junior.
Sestina
Komboskini
Komboskini: a prayer rope bracelet used in Orthodox Christianity to aid in daily prayer
So many of her memories are there.
A box holding a golden intricate ring.
One box had a gold plated cross.
Didn’t find interest in the bracelet,
I couldn't see it resting on the side of my bed.
To be honest I didn’t quite like it.
I had never seen her wear it.
I was starting to get tired of being there,
And seeing the contraptions next to the hospital bed.
I caught a glimpse of her wedding ring,
It interested me way more than her bracelet.
The thing I wanted most was the cross.
I could tell it was a handcrafted cross,
and my grandma could tell I was drawn to it.
I picked up the cross moved the bracelet
forward with disinterest. I hoped putting it there
she would know how I felt. The ring
had been in the side pocket of her hospital bed.
It had been a week since she finished bed
rest. She would only leave it to make her cross.
It was something that made her heart ring
with contentment. She loved to pray and did it
everyday. She was getting used to it there.
She started a collection of hospital bracelets.
Almost as large as her collection of Prayer bracelets.
She got acclimated to the hospital, and liked her bed.
She always had good things to say about the nurses there.
She would lift her body up and sit in criss cross
applesauce, I would like to believe it
was her way of showing us her strength. Her ring
No longer fit her finger. I wish she could ring
the cancer free bell, instead she has her bracelet
collection from the hospital. She just wasn’t able to beat it
twice. I wonder what she prays about before bed.
I always pray for her journey after I make my cross,
pray she might be able to reconnect with her friends up there.
