The Love of This World | Teen Ink

The Love of This World MAG

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

All the good in me unlaced I pull what I own across the floor,
books devoured to the spine, impressions the knees of my jeans
have made of kneeling, my ghosts of ghosts, the saint who is namesake.

I lay it out. A turtle can lay one hundred
thirty-seven eggs in the hollows of trash-filled beaches
and pray her young into the foam

and I know how she judges her almost-gone
with the shell’s first clean fracture, and how much she holds
when she owns nothing and watches it race away.

I line it up for you, lay it down, armfuls, fistfuls,
incalculable catalogues of rinsed fingerprints
released, as they are back-breaking, as this convex shell

is enough, as the body becomes the loudest resonating
home where I deadlock roomfuls of possessions,
where my valuables belong so unbearably to me

that they are not mine. And because I want to float
I lay them down, the swatches of fabric, the memories of places
I swore I had owned so wholly I felt them through to the relics,

laid down, the hopes I hold for the ones I’d kill to own
who swim between combs of aimless currents,
of whom I am no owner, of what I am no mother

I lay them out for you. And as the sea holds
each embryo to the memory of one
original shell, I am unforgivably enamored

with the ownership of all.



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This article has 117 comments.


on Jun. 11 2009 at 8:28 pm
Vindictive_Love BRONZE, Abq, New Mexico
1 article 5 photos 41 comments

Favorite Quote:
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. <br /> Michael Jordan <br /> <br /> Whatever you do in life, will be insignificant, but it&#039;s very important that you do it.<br /> Mahatma Ghandi

wow! i love the way you set a mood and tone. i love your word choice and the dialogue. keep up the great work. this made me really think about what it was saying which is what i ove in a poem. excellent job.

on Jun. 11 2009 at 7:50 pm
LoveLikeWoe DIAMOND, LeSueur, MN, Minnesota
54 articles 2 photos 748 comments

Favorite Quote:
Whoever laughs first has the sickest mind.

Umm... i was just as confused as mariamarie i read it through twice and thought it was pretty but i couldnt catch on to what was going on.

RiaRen SILVER said...
on Jun. 11 2009 at 4:25 pm
RiaRen SILVER, New Bothwell, Other
8 articles 0 photos 75 comments
your poem was really great. i'd say the end is a bit better than the beginning only cuz it's more powerful.i had to read it 2ice cuz i was a little confused but hey, i get it now and it's amaazing.

(and i can also be sumwat of a airhead!! LOL :P)

keep writing!!

if you could, could you check out my stuff?

oh, rite, congrats on making "most popular!!"

kiersten

on Jun. 11 2009 at 11:44 am
ShernayB. DIAMOND, Southfield, Michigan
62 articles 1 photo 881 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Some things will never change&quot;---Tupac

This is truly astonishing. You had my attention from the first word. I really like how your word choice makes this piece flow like a sweet melody. Good job!

on May. 15 2009 at 2:01 am
KICK3593 PLATINUM, Roslyn Heights, New York
49 articles 0 photos 74 comments
Harsh, penetrating, and insistant. You belong in some sort of proffessional writing class, (I mean by social class sort of thing).

on May. 15 2009 at 1:24 am
I luv this poem. Its powerful and awesome. I really really like it.

on May. 14 2009 at 10:30 pm
MariaMarie DIAMOND, Washington Court House, Ohio
70 articles 0 photos 181 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Life&#039;s a mountain on a beach&quot;-Unknown<br /> &quot;Will: This is either madness or brilliance. Sparrow: It&#039;s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.&quot;-Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl.

This piece was OK.. i love the sea and the description. Your talented with symbolism. I'm hoping that i'm taking this the right way. I read it through twice but it's a tad confusing for me.

Katie[: GOLD said...
on May. 14 2009 at 1:10 pm
Katie[: GOLD, Columbus, Indiana
15 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Live life to the fullest, and like there won&#039;t be a tomorrow.&quot;

kool beans man kool beans.. that was nice work

on May. 14 2009 at 1:01 pm
LovelessFallenTalia BRONZE, West Lawn, Pennsylvania
1 article 0 photos 3 comments
This poem was beautifully descriptive and very touching. Loved it!

on May. 14 2009 at 1:57 am
LikeBam! SILVER, Myrtle, Missouri
6 articles 0 photos 7 comments
very intelligent

on Apr. 16 2009 at 9:40 pm
ktbelle589 SILVER, Lincolnton, North Carolina
9 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;You should be kissed and often and by someone who knows how.&quot; -Gone with the Wind

i loveddddddd it

on Apr. 4 2009 at 12:56 am
Jilybeanrb SILVER, Prentiss, Mississippi
6 articles 0 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.&quot; ~Paper Towns

This is incredible. You have a very powerful and unique voice. Your word choice is amazing; I love the details. The beginning was a bit difficult to read, but it all flows very well after that. Congrats on being most popular (:

on Apr. 3 2009 at 10:21 pm
VNH042095 SILVER, Dewitt, Virginia
8 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
I have a lot of quotes that I like.

omg, i absolutely loved this.. it touched me.. your a wonderful writer. [x

on Apr. 3 2009 at 5:37 pm
Ray Strudgeon, Plainwell, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Very nice. I love it, the way you worded every line. amazing, my favorite verse is 5-7. Keep up these amazing poems please.

on Mar. 28 2009 at 2:57 am
brooke.is.gone. SILVER, Scottsville, Kentucky
5 articles 0 photos 16 comments
wow. i love this, like a lot. it's so freakin' powerful. very nice, you're a wonderful writer.

on Mar. 26 2009 at 6:53 pm
firstsnowfalls DIAMOND, Marcellus, New York
51 articles 6 photos 105 comments
This is beautiful. I can feel the emotion in every line. It is very powerful. Great job :)

Brooklyn GOLD said...
on Mar. 22 2009 at 6:57 am
Brooklyn GOLD, Granada Hills, California
12 articles 20 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
Live as if you&#039;ll die tomorrow, dream as if you&#039;ll live forever. -James Dean

Absolutely gorgeous

simply amazing

i just love it

You write poetry like I do, free verse with spacing to emphasize ideas

at least i think thats how you meant it



regarde et ecrit ma poetry si'l vous plait

(look and read my poetry please) lol

:P

lamelola GOLD said...
on Mar. 22 2009 at 4:08 am
lamelola GOLD, Wichita, Kansas
14 articles 19 photos 45 comments

Favorite Quote:
The problem is, you think you have time.

Great! wonderful! SPECTACULAR :)

on Mar. 20 2009 at 1:02 am
beautiful!

Stephy F. said...
on Mar. 20 2009 at 12:28 am
This is very lovley. It touched me in the heart. It was amazing and its one of the best types of poems :] the ones that really mean something.