Shade | Teen Ink

Shade MAG

February 1, 2009
By Danielle Charette BRONZE, Durham, Connecticut
Danielle Charette BRONZE, Durham, Connecticut
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Rock star,
drug addict,
or geriatric on the rebound from cataract surgery,
she said,
are the only legitimate personas for sunglass-wearing.

But what about style and flirtation and Jackie O?

What about beaches
and tan lines
and ocean-stained copies of Time?

What about adolescence
and wrinkled hot dogs
and the velvety shores of Jersey?

Do you have an opinion on the grammatically stunted drugstore novel
or the vulgarity of toe rings?

What of that sapphire swimsuit that’s missing three jewels
and chapped lips
and that obscene practice permissible only after achieving a stupefied state of tourism (long after fanny packs and card decks) known as bike-renting?

Seriously, Mother, what do you make of chuckling quietly at women
whose shrunken, upturned noses can’t support their aviators,
or that psychedelic rainbow emitted by misshapen lenses,
rivaled only by oil leaks in the parking lots of supermarkets?

Nonsense. UV rays are fictionalized by the same people
who invented evolution and
global warming
and NASA.

No daughter of mine shall subscribe to that mongering,
that hullabaloo.
You’ll just have to squint.

But when she turned, I shaded my rusty eyes anyway,
if for no other reason than to shield myself for a little while against that blinding
light source
called humanity.



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This article has 86 comments.


Lahari GOLD said...
on Nov. 27 2010 at 6:24 pm
Lahari GOLD, Edison, New Jersey
19 articles 0 photos 71 comments

Favorite Quote:
\\\\\\\"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That\\\\\\\'s why its called the present.\\\\\\\"
— Eleanor Roosevelt

\\\\\\\"When life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.\\\\\\\'

. . .I just had a disturbing metal image!

Lahari GOLD said...
on Nov. 27 2010 at 6:23 pm
Lahari GOLD, Edison, New Jersey
19 articles 0 photos 71 comments

Favorite Quote:
\\\\\\\"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That\\\\\\\'s why its called the present.\\\\\\\"
— Eleanor Roosevelt

\\\\\\\"When life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.\\\\\\\'

Its kind of like science against religion. Some people think that global warming is just stupid. They think that "God" will save us. They think evolution is unrealistic and that we were made humans from the beginning. by God. Also, they believe that NASA is an unnecessary, unethical organization created by people to gain profit and nothing else. 

I guess the author is saying that the mother thinks like that too.


on Nov. 5 2010 at 11:47 am
June_Survive SILVER, Kirbyville, Texas
5 articles 0 photos 27 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” -Jamie Paolinetti

"In the end, everything will be okay. If everything is not okay, it's not the end."
Unknown

This was really amazing... good job! Very vivid metaphorical sarcasm.

on Oct. 14 2010 at 1:07 am
ebony_and_irony, Tracy, California
0 articles 0 photos 11 comments
Love the biting sarcasm in this. I know how you feel.

on Sep. 22 2010 at 7:43 pm
Aristine BRONZE, Coppell, Texas
1 article 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. - Scott F. Fitzgerald

Ah. I love the metaphors and messages you have here- they're wonderfully interwoven without being blatantly obvious. Your wording is great and the ending wrapped everything up nicely.

on Sep. 22 2010 at 5:56 pm
LunaWingsFlyAway GOLD, Farmingdale, New York
10 articles 0 photos 42 comments

Favorite Quote:
"And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee
...Of my darling-my darling-my life and my bride.In the sepulchre there by the sea."

-Edgar Allen Poe

i added this one to my favorties....it made me smile....i can pictuyre everything ur saying....i totally dig it...

on Aug. 31 2010 at 5:42 pm
kristinn1229 SILVER, Olive Hill, Kentucky
7 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.
Ralph Blum

I can picture everything your talking about in my mind.  This piece is amazing!  Defintley one i'll be adding to favorites.  

on Aug. 28 2010 at 10:31 am
J-blotting-ink SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
8 articles 6 photos 20 comments
This is really a fantastic piece. Everything is well done. I'm extremely impressed.

on Aug. 15 2010 at 9:56 pm
Marlyre PLATINUM, Kalamazoo, Michigan
21 articles 0 photos 208 comments

Favorite Quote:
"when you cry, do you waste your tears?" Madonna

if I am correct, the author has these comments/stanzas coming from the perspective of the mother, which is to add another layer to her character in this poem... just my thoughts though...

on Aug. 15 2010 at 9:50 pm
Marlyre PLATINUM, Kalamazoo, Michigan
21 articles 0 photos 208 comments

Favorite Quote:
"when you cry, do you waste your tears?" Madonna

great flow of consciousness, totally dig where youre coming from... read some of mine?

on Aug. 9 2010 at 10:31 am
MelanieLouise PLATINUM, Plymouth, Minnesota
37 articles 0 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
to live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong

love this. i can picture the conversation and the thoughts that flow through your mind. great great work :) keep writing, Mel (:

AbneyT SILVER said...
on Jul. 18 2010 at 11:22 pm
AbneyT SILVER, Spring Valley, Illinois
8 articles 1 photo 8 comments

Okay, okay I love this poem and all,

but I do not get thiss one part!

UV rays are a fact, and you say they are fictionalized by the same people who believe in evolution, global warming, and nasa. But but, Nasa is a fact, and Global Warming is a fact. But Evolution is a theoryyy. Which makes no sense to me!!


on Jul. 18 2010 at 4:37 pm
haventy0uheard PLATINUM, Kings Park, New York
28 articles 0 photos 186 comments
I loved this! Very creative great job I think alot of people can relate. Mothers, pssh. =]

ChelzH SILVER said...
on Jul. 14 2010 at 5:02 pm
ChelzH SILVER, Ranson, West Virginia
6 articles 1 photo 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
"What is interesting about people is not their ability to do anything, but their perspective on everything and how the nuances of those perspectives correlate between people in similar and completely different situations." - K.H.

this is really great! you are very creative, good job!!

on Jun. 26 2010 at 6:24 pm
antoniutc BRONZE, Edison, New Jersey
2 articles 1 photo 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. -Henry Thoreau

To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! –Ralph Emerson

WOW. I JUST HAD A LITERARY ORGASM!!

on Jun. 26 2010 at 6:06 pm
Saudade_indigo PLATINUM, Winnipeg, Other
21 articles 0 photos 17 comments
love the adjectives you used and the amount of them! the last line ties it together perfectly too.

on Jun. 26 2010 at 3:53 pm
-daydreamer- SILVER, Smyrna, Tennessee
6 articles 0 photos 26 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Carpe.... Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." ---Robin Williams, "Dead Poets Society"

This is amazing! I love everthing, from the title to the last line!

Ashee97 said...
on May. 13 2010 at 3:54 pm
whoa, you used a lot of big words in this! that makes it more effictive...but i dont really get it. its nothing against you, jusy my lack of knowledge to understand things. but i do love it and judging by the other comments its a great poem! keep up the excellent work! :)

on Apr. 21 2010 at 6:29 am
AndTheVinesSpin GOLD, Romulus, Michigan
11 articles 1 photo 44 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is the Movement" -TWLOHA
"Love is our weapon." -Christofer Drew
"I'ma get me a High School Diploma, even if I gotta steal one!" -ThisKidInMyMathClassLol

hah, mothers.

JessieB SILVER said...
on Apr. 21 2010 at 6:28 am
JessieB SILVER, Elkton, Maryland
7 articles 1 photo 102 comments

Favorite Quote:
an eye for an eye, and the whole world goes blind~Ghandi

wow. wow. woah.

i loveeee thisss!