Clara Marie
Olivia Dupuy


When you said so little
             (“I should introduce you to Clara Marie sometime–
             she's interesting.”)  
 
What you must have meant was:
              “Let Clara Marie consume you;
                            let her corrupt your life with words lined so carefully with barbed wire,
               watch everyone who tried to fall in love with her
                           cut themselves on her jagged edges.
 
Let Clara Marie drag you onto the streets after the Fourth of July
             to fish stars out of the gutter with sticks (she claimed fireworks knocked them down).
and let her scratch sketches of deep-sea flowers onto your calves with a clothespin.
 
            Watch Clara Marie play hopscotch in rain puddles stained with streetlamp light,
                          and afterwards let her turn in tight, graceless circles in your kitchenette.
 
Help Clara Marie rip out the stitches that held shadows to her feet
              and then drape them around her shoulders to protect her from the cold.
 
Watch the back of Clara Marie's head in Art class:
              her tangled hair threaded with the constellation of pins and barrettes from the
              night before–
try to make out her drawings before realizing they are the same deep-sea flowers
               she scraped onto your leg.
 
Struggle to recognize the song Clara Marie tapped with her
                once-white sneakers;
                and when you fail, struggle to memorize it,
count each freckle on her palm and be jealous when she tells you that's where angels
               had kissed her after begging her to marry them.
 
And when Clara Marie leaves you to chase after angel suitors and dive for deep-sea
              flowers–
 
When others have to scrape off her dragonfruit chewing gum from beneath their
               desks and chairs–
 
You will be left to heal yourself from where she jimmied her penknife between your ribs and
                 carved her poetry on the surface of your too-soft heart.”
 
 “I should introduce you to Clara Marie sometime–
                she's interesting.”

About the Author:
Olivia "Ollie" Dupuy is a freshman at Orange County School of the Arts, enrolled in the Creative Writing program. She enjoys reading and writing short stories and free verse poetry. 

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