Bookworms | Teen Ink

Bookworms MAG

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

Boy walks, nose-deep into small print
of a yellow book, zig-zags down treacherous
levels of stairs as if only his feet
sense his whereabouts and ankle-up
the kudzu, the other worlds enchanted

anchor him. He reads as if studying
atom splits, enamored with their
sleepwalking between two beings
while classmates dart in and out of lunch lines,
pounding on vending machines. His thumb

makes an even cut into a chapter,
folding over the neatly typed tale, bells sounding
in their wary come-back-boomerang whistle
and a fissure halves his eardrum, his eyelashes
fall apart to the fluorescent quilted ceiling flickering

chalk-like shadows sprawled out on the cafeteria floor
and things like chocolate milk seem filtered from
dream-Bible text and although he is grateful
to be where he is, although he is grateful to touch
on the familiar, he cannot fathom

his own reactions to the real-life stories
where plots confuse at the hand of his author and
resolution never comes. So impatiently he drags a chair
out from beneath a plastic table, picks up where
he left off, remembers his place.



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This article has 91 comments.


on Jul. 22 2011 at 10:33 am
ElleNicole BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all."

This is very good!

Uhh random question... why does everyone have a green VIP next to their screen names?


on Jun. 8 2011 at 7:57 pm
rubyrainstorm SILVER, Closter, New Jersey
7 articles 0 photos 275 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
-Buddha.

Wow, this poem is so true! I'm also a bookworm, but you just described a boy from my school almost perfectly! :) Also, if anybody has time, please please please check out my poem, The Girl Inside! :) Thanks so much!

on Jun. 8 2011 at 7:55 pm
rubyrainstorm SILVER, Closter, New Jersey
7 articles 0 photos 275 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
-Buddha.

Same here! :)

AliB. BRONZE said...
on Apr. 25 2011 at 6:24 pm
AliB. BRONZE, Redwood City, California
2 articles 1 photo 16 comments
im such a bookworm i walk a mile to my library and then a mile back, while carrying ten pounds of books :)

Kiyoko GOLD said...
on Jan. 27 2011 at 6:20 am
Kiyoko GOLD, Knoxville, Tennessee
10 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
Independence is my happiness, I view things as they are without regard to place or person. My country is the world, and my religion is to do good. - Thomas Paine

This is a good poem. The balance of abstractness to imagery is well done. Good job!

on Jan. 5 2011 at 7:44 pm
OriginalCarbonation GOLD, Naperville, Illinois
11 articles 0 photos 102 comments

Favorite Quote:
dream as if you'll live forever
live as if you'll die tomorrow

i really enjoyed this poem. i love the format, the style, and the tone. it was unique in all of those ways so it took me away like books you were describing. i admire and congratulate you on creating a deeper and more realistic picture of a bookworm, not just someone who reads all the time, but their phsyche, their world. you really got into it and then correctly translated that to paper. it is so relatable and well phrased.i especially love the part about seing through a filter of what you are reading, and the way everything all the bright lights and everything feaded out. just impecably put. thank you for writing this. will you look at my post in a forum "i need a title!"please? that would mean a lot to me, i could really use the help :)

Kai17 GOLD said...
on Jan. 5 2011 at 12:39 pm
Kai17 GOLD, Spokane, Washington
17 articles 5 photos 339 comments

Favorite Quote:
*beepbeep*
"Where to, Miss?"
"To the stars."

A bookworm myself, I recognize some of the things I do in this poem. Great job!

on Nov. 22 2010 at 6:44 pm
SomethingLikeFire BRONZE, Mchenry, Illinois
1 article 1 photo 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Pippin: What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?" -
-- The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

I love your ability to create the exact image in my head I was thinking of!!!!!

I love this peom! :)


MRose911 GOLD said...
on Nov. 16 2010 at 9:54 pm
MRose911 GOLD, Paradise, Utah
17 articles 10 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
"No boy is worth crying over and the one who is won't make you cry." - Sarah Kane

i know many many people like this!! i love the poem! and your writing is so unique! :)

on Oct. 31 2010 at 5:30 pm
star-gazing-dreamer GOLD, Pittsgrove, New Jersey
11 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it,
except sitting in a corner by myself with a little book.
~ Thomas Kempis ~

i really like this poem. Its perfectly titled and really well written. :) officially one of my favorites

on Aug. 26 2010 at 10:23 am
thebushhippie PLATINUM, Sandown, New Hampshire
24 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
Leave behind your own footprints! :0)

Whoa....this poem was SO fantastic! Your use of words and descriptive phrases was AWESOME!!! Love it!!! If I could rate higher than 5, I so would!!! :0) :0) :0)

on Aug. 4 2010 at 5:50 pm
MercedesXO DIAMOND, South Easton, Massachusetts
52 articles 0 photos 280 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I realize that life is risks. It's acknowledging the past but looking forward. It's taking chances that we will make mistakes but believeing we all deserve to be forgiven."
-The Dead Tossed Waves.

very intelligently written. your use of imagery and metaphors is powerful. i am..the deffinition of a bookworm. if you say me you'd never think it, but i am. my friends and family always get upset when i turn down plans to continue reading for 10 hours straight. (i dont like distractions. lol great job:)

id love it if you (or anyone else reading this) would check out some of my work. especially my poem

'Torturer of a King.' appriciated:)


on Aug. 4 2010 at 10:37 am
MelanieLouise PLATINUM, Plymouth, Minnesota
37 articles 0 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
to live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong

amazing. you have created such great imagery with this piece. i am very inspired. it so vivid. great great work :) keep writing, Mel.

on Jul. 13 2010 at 4:28 pm
Sincerly,Jasmine SILVER, Villa Park, Illinois
7 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Beauty comes in its own box"

that was very very great it displayed great imajery keep goin :)

on Jun. 21 2010 at 5:14 pm
star-gazing-dreamer GOLD, Pittsgrove, New Jersey
11 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it,
except sitting in a corner by myself with a little book.
~ Thomas Kempis ~

I love this poem. It reminds mme of me, just replacing the "boy" with "girl".  It's the perfect poem for book lovers. Beutiful. :)

on Jun. 7 2010 at 10:38 am
annlovesbooks, Walsingham, Other
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
Wow this totally describes me, but i'm a gril. keep writing your awsome!

CarlyMurphy said...
on Jun. 1 2010 at 1:02 pm

You've gotten so many comments, and I'm sorry to say mine will be quite similar: this blew my mind. "Atom splits, enamored with their sleepwalking..."

Your writing is gorgeous. Cliché as it sounds, you have a gift.

Not only did this poem amaze me, it inspired me, and I think that's what poetry is all about. Beautiful, beautiful piece.


on May. 30 2010 at 10:24 pm
Lunaractivity GOLD, Palos Heights, Illinois
12 articles 0 photos 3 comments
This was a beautiful poem, the image of this boy briefly snapping out of the book then snapping back in was so vivid. Frankly, it reminds me of myself.

Rabaya GOLD said...
on May. 8 2010 at 1:37 pm
Rabaya GOLD, Jamaica, New York
17 articles 0 photos 18 comments
This is really good, keep writing!

on May. 8 2010 at 10:30 am
beautifullyclueless GOLD, Fort Worth, Texas
16 articles 0 photos 24 comments
oh BRILLIANT!!!! this was a joy to read and everything was so fun and artistic and original. i loved "bookworms"