ALEXANDRIA QUARTERLY

EMERGING ARTISTS & WRITERS:
Djuna Carlton

I AM CRAVING A HEARTBREAK
A Tuesday night drive filled to the brim with shattered expectations
I am craving the day I will glare at my old comrade, the sun,
With the anger and the resentment of an old wound throbbing with recognition
It seems a shame
That I would leave my hometown without first dissolving
It the cracked and thirsty mud and sagebrush
I need a disaster to shake loose in me the things that are beautiful
But first I need a person, boy or girl,
To look at me and see that beauty,
Although it is buried blissfully beneath my ribcage
Loneliness wouldn’t bother me
If I had a person to call,
Too early in the morning to even be called morning
I need a black-blanket relationship
Something I can hide under and pretend to see stars
Knowing full well that we can’t
But we practice for the day,
The person, who will take our hand and show us our constellations
I need to start moving
And I’m afraid that I am still stuck in an unshattered mind
I call myself an aspiring nomad
But no woman can truly let go of the strings tying her home
If she doesn’t have a reason to.

AIRPLANE 2

Honey, you need to stop looking for approval.
You are breaking your back to please others
And they simply bend you further
Honey, soon you’ll be broken
And I don’t know if I could deal with any more shattered souls right now
So for my sake, please Love,
Learn to walk without another’s encouragement,
You need to support yourself
Honey, you are beautiful.
You are chai tea on a November day,
Served in your mother’s best china.
Petite and curved with porcelain elegance unrecognizable to teenage boys
You are half strong black tea,
Fragrant and reminiscent of earth’s finest soils
And the other half is cream.
Smooth, sweet
Only the most beautiful cinnamon freckles are allowed to blossom onto your skin,
Honey, you are a Garcia.
One of the strongest New Mexican bloodlines,
Defiance and strength is buried in your bones.
But you are also an Enson,
Your people survived the Holocaust,
You are so much stronger than you think you are.

Djuna Carlton was born and raised in Northern New Mexico by parents who encouraged her creativity from the very start. Now a junior in high school, she draws and writes profusely and has begun to develop and mature her artistic side. Although she will be leaving home soon to go to college and travel, she will always appreciate the roots of her artistic self in her home.