Title: Orange Tangelo

Creator: Hannah Teves

Category: Death

Creator Commentary:

(Content Warning: the commentary and poem refer to themes of suicide and mental illness). This poem was written after my younger brother, Beaux, was admitted to the hospital following a suicide attempt. He is currently sixteen years old and is doing well, but a few weeks ago he told me he wanted to become an astronaut. When something like this happens, it can often be difficult to be hopeful, especially when a situation is life or death, but my brother’s intense capability for hope left an impact on me, and I wanted to write a poem acknowledging that. I am not someone who is often afraid of death, but after what happened I have thought more about the afterlife and about death itself. I tried to use this poem to step away from the stereotypical version of the afterlife and focus on what I think my brother would want, and what I imagine would happen if he passed away. In doing so, I stayed away from very negative or heavy language, language that would often be associated with death. Rather than using a lot of decoration, I wanted the words of this poem to stand for themselves and take on a casual, almost lively tone, so that it could properly emulate my brother. The poem might not immediately bring the theme of revolution to mind, but my intention was based on that. Death itself, as I’ve described it, is a cycle, a revolution; I had a revolution of thought after my brother’s hospitalization; my brother’s life has been changed irrevocably due to what happened, and yet he recovers, moves on, and impulsively and drastically dreams again.

Submission:

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Creator Bio:

Hannah Teves is an aspiring writer and English Literature major from San Diego, California. They especially love writing poetry and creative nonfiction, and they aim to become a high school english teacher after graduation. They can be contacted at teves103@mail.chapman.edu or found at Starbucks at quite literally any time of the day.