Empty Girl


      by Melissa J. Kalinowski

          When Sheila was nine years old
          she read nature books on the back lawn
              added three digit numbers in math books
                ran fast races in gym classes
                  jumped wildly into swimming holes
                    threw baseballs like her big brother
                      caught frogs, kept in Kemp's pails with rocks and water
                      dreamt of flights into summer skies

          Sheila is twenty
          she reads trashy, flashy fashion mags
              adds obsessively calories and fat grams
                runs away from her problems
                  jumps into pools of depression
                    throws up Hershey chocolate binges
                      catches small-time players to love her, to leave her
                        dreams of falling from summer skies . . .

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      This magazine is produced by the Write Place
      and is funded through a St. Cloud State University
      (St. Cloud, Minnesota) Cultural Diversity Committee allocation.
      Contributors retain all rights to their work.

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      Kaleidoscope Online

      Last update: 15 July 1998

      URL: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/kaleidoscope/volume4/empty.html

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