Glitter Shoes
By Ilona Lahdesmaki
Six years
The time you had the chance to speak
But not once did you utter a word
In this peculiar language
Six years
Out of nine
You silently roamed this land
Of liberty and freedom
In your glitter shoes
Six years
Your lips stitched with golden thread
Whispers stolen
Brown eyes glued
To your glitter shoes
Six years
You lived with nods and shakes
Meetings without greetings
Mother’s explanations
To worried strangers
Who only see a mute girl
With glitter shoes
Six years
I search for roots
To explain your frights
The scalpel that cut open your heart
Before you could crawl
The glitter shoes beside your hospital bed
Before you could talk
The hospital gowns
Before elementary school
Maybe the world hasn’t earned
Your radiant voice
Six years
And nobody believes me
When I explain how our home
Shut from the world
Bursts with your laughter and yells
In the language
Far from peculiar
From the land we left
Language that bounces off the walls
But evaporates at the front porch
Six years
But I’ve never seen you
As mute girl
With glitter shoes
As you shine much brighter
Than those glitter shoes
Filled with wildness and love
Six years
You never uttered a word
Until today
The glitter shoes
Pouring with nervousness
Shuffled into my room
And asked me
One question
In this peculiar language
Love this work. The repetition of six years is captivating, the line "in this peculiar language" was lovely. Wonderful!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis poem is so moving, I love the development of the story. It is easy to follow but is also interpretive and leaves the readers hanging. I love the repetition of "glitter shoes", it reminds the readers how the person you are writing about is filling these shoes and how you associate them with her.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is such a figurative yet literal depiction of Lotta's journey. I love how eloquently you expressed the story yet always coming back to the "six years" and "glitter shoes."
ReplyDeleteI really liked your poem and how the story progressed with each stanza and the repetition of the phrase "six years." It was cute to see the words you used to describe the young girl such as "wildness and love."
ReplyDeleteThis poem is so well written! I love the message of the poem and how it can be perceived as both a literal and figurative meaning. I like the way that you used stanzas and line-breaks, and how you included the repetition of "glitter shoes" to show innocence and youth. Overall, this poem is beautifully written and I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your poem. I liked the repetition you used and the figurative language that conveyed feelings well throughout the poems.
ReplyDeleteI liked the repetition and how it tied up all the different stanzas, while still having some progressions towards a central idea.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lines were"Language that bounces off the walls /
But evaporates at the front porch."
The repetition of the glitter shoes really tied the poem together, and gave this little girl a very vibrant feature despite being silent. "The scalpel that cut open your heart" is my favorite line, because of how tragic and poetic it is. The six years repetition grounds the poem to a time, which really strengthens it.
ReplyDeleteI really like the repetition of six years, your poem is incredibly good at creating a connection with the reader. I am amazed by what you struggle through I cant even imagine how difficult it would be.
ReplyDeleteI liked the use of repetition in this poem and it is very relatable and all the poetic devices make it a lot more interesting.
ReplyDelete