Bunk Bed Dreams
By Gabriella Calabia
Thoughts, consciousness, and imagination. A poem.
The memory of my birth town is twisted with cobblestone roads, alpine cows descending the hills of my mind. It’s so golden and bright when the moments swaddled beneath the grassy valleys connect for an instant and I am reminded of my flesh, my heart, my lake-drenched clothes. Under the late sun, my parents share a cremeschnitte licking custard off their fingers. A thousand thousand-year old flags unfurl in my imagination, and the song of a yodeler drifts on the breeze. In the apple orchard, Mama holds my sister. I sink my teeth into the pink fruit and sunlight, taste the sounds of joy, the sweetness of these days forever. My brother’s laugh rushes through a field of Christmas Rose as he treks up the mountain to touch the moon next to the wolves that swallow stones. How wonderful it is to dream. To dream. To dream of home.
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For more than two years, our young writers have weathered an adolescence shaped by an ongoing global pandemic. But a harsh climate can also produce work of rare depth, complexity, nuance and humor. The Girls Write Now mentees in this collection have found new ways to build community and take root. This anthology is a catalog of seeds—each young writer cultivating a shimmering, emergent voice. In short stories, personal essays, poetry, and more, they reflect on life-altering topics like heartbreak, self-care and friendship. The result is a stunning book with global relevance of all this generation has endured and transformed.
Process
This poem is an exploration of beginnings, and the act of composing was an apt introspection into my own journey as a poet too. Form and function act in harmony throughout the stanzas to conjure the dreamy state of childhood memories, hopes, and most importantly: dreams. Colors are tasted, the moonlight is grasped, and an ethereal serenity enwraps the speaker. I’ve learned that poetry is quite possibly one of the truest representations of emotion—so long as the poet is willing to wander into her imagination.
Gabriella Calabia
Gabriella was born in Basel, Switzerland and spent her early childhood traveling throughout Eurasia before ultimately moving to New York City with her family. Her award-winning poems have been conceived on midnight road trips, cross country train rides and the back of her calculus notes.
