A Box of Broken Crayons

By: Anna O'Reilly

Published by Indie Pub, 2025-04-14

In her debut poetry collection, Anna encapsulates the feelings and fears that come with growing up and how we change as we prepare to leave the nest. She uses a crayon as a metaphor for the storyline of life that we all must weave through. Anna takes the reader down a path of nostalgia and helps them to come to terms with what it means to find yourself through your inner child along the path of life, which we all must walk.

"I reside in a box of crayons

Not yet tampered

Or disturbed

Bonded to the distinct colors of childhood

Scents that never fail to set me free

I smell of chalk

Etched into a late summer's evening

That leaves marks of blended color on my hands

I smell of my first soccer goal

On an early Saturday morning

Leaving victory in my skin

Along with the stains of adrenaline on my knees

I smell of colors I was not born with

But learned to mix myself" - From A Box of Broken Crayons