CLEMENTINE AVERY
YEARS AS MENTEE: 1
GRADE: Sophomore
HIGH SCHOOL: Millennium Brooklyn High School
BORN: New Haven, CT
LIVES: Brooklyn, NY
MENTEE’S ANECDOTE: I have so much fun talking to Jen, because she has such a kind and positive vibe and I feel really supported. We talk about everything. I have so many great memories of us just talking about random things and going on tangents about weird ethical dilemmas. She is very open-minded, so I can talk about pretty much anything I want and she will jump in. And I have learned so much from her, too. I am so happy that I have gotten to share my poems with her—I don’t feel scared at all.
JEN STRAUS
YEARS AS MENTOR: 1
OCCUPATION: Development Coordinator, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
BORN: Washington, D.C.
LIVES: Brooklyn, NY
MENTOR’S ANECDOTE: This is my first year as a mentor, and it’s everything I hoped it would be. Clem and I often get caught up in conversations about what matters most to us both as writers and as people, talking about the messiness of life. Clem is a deep thinker brimming with ideas, and it’s been a true joy helping her hone her voice. Her writing shows a careful consideration of the world, and I’m continually impressed by how creatively she expresses the big questions that are on her mind. I can only hope to follow the example she sets.
This poem is about feeling like an outsider or feeling misunderstood, and finding an inspiring leader who is able to overcome their fear.
Veterans with weary eyes wake up
Our hero has come back: Sir Leo,
The man whose heart is capable of rebounding
Who speaks of joy not as an emotion but as a
Broad stroke.
They called him the singing soldier
Who sang about real things.
Veterans
Veterans
Men and women and everyone else who walks up to strangers
And burns candles for their missing trust,
And has grown delusional and tired
Fighting the brave fight
Sweating at night
This is us, but with a smile.
Sir Leo told us this, that four things are real: the human soul, the animal inside us, the nature around us, and the timeline of planet Earth.
There is nothing else worth worrying about.
He who turned metal into clocks and metal into screws
(Beautiful creations that whispered to us twisty people)
He who was told to swallow his words so he put them onto paper
This is Sir Leo
who used his eyes
pressed his heart against the earth
and did not apologize
And he did not need to, because there were only
Four things: The human soul,
The animal inside of us,
The nature around us,
And the timeline of planet Earth.