"Losing Something You Can't Touch" by Maggie Bell (Aroostook County Winner)

Her brand-new high-heeled shoes

came in the mail today.

I watched her

try them on in the mirror—

she didn't

seem as happy as the girl

who'd begged for months

should have been—

she seemed

at a loss.

Maybe it was the way

they pinched her toes,

or something else.

She struggled to walk at first

but got better

as time

went on.

***

She used to play, but

now she scrolls,

door shut.

She tells me 'grow up'

and I would

but

watching her,

I don't want to anymore.

Growing up isn't worth it,

not even

for

her.

---

Maggie Bell, of Caribou, is a freshman at Caribou High School. She first fell in love with poetry at ten years old, when she had her first poem published in a Young Authors Anthology. Her debut novel-in-verse, Coffee Gets Cold Quick, was published a month before she started high school. When she’s not busy writing pieces like “Losing Something You Can’t Touch,” she can be found reading her favorite books, playing her instruments, bullet journaling, or spending lots of time with her family.