Madison Lazenby (18)
I’d Like to Think I Was in Gymnastics for a Reason
Second Place Winner of the Hips Contest
Keep it a secret for me, but I can’t help but think
about how the world is so old and wide and round
that I could never throw my legs
far enough or stretch my arms
high enough—my hips rolling
out of place, my shoulders dislocating,
my eyes glazing over—to feel and see
and understand it all before it dies, long
before I do, leaving me
alone to myself and my thoughts, wondering,
If my hips had been just a little more flexible,
would I have covered more earth
and shielded just one continent from the flood,
or would I have split in half in one great earthquake?
Madison Lazenby (18) is a senior at Millbrook High School. There, she is the founder of the creative writing club and the Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. She is also a graduate of the UVA Young Writers Workshop and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, and the Apple Valley Creative Writing Contest. She will be attending her dream school, Hamilton College, next fall. She is currently trying to grow her hair out.
I’d Like to Think I Was in Gymnastics for a Reason
Second Place Winner of the Hips Contest
Keep it a secret for me, but I can’t help but think
about how the world is so old and wide and round
that I could never throw my legs
far enough or stretch my arms
high enough—my hips rolling
out of place, my shoulders dislocating,
my eyes glazing over—to feel and see
and understand it all before it dies, long
before I do, leaving me
alone to myself and my thoughts, wondering,
If my hips had been just a little more flexible,
would I have covered more earth
and shielded just one continent from the flood,
or would I have split in half in one great earthquake?
Madison Lazenby (18) is a senior at Millbrook High School. There, she is the founder of the creative writing club and the Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. She is also a graduate of the UVA Young Writers Workshop and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, and the Apple Valley Creative Writing Contest. She will be attending her dream school, Hamilton College, next fall. She is currently trying to grow her hair out.
