If My Middle Name Was Trijntje | Teen Ink

If My Middle Name Was Trijntje

October 16, 2023
By mckenzielynn BRONZE, Oswego, Illinois
mckenzielynn BRONZE, Oswego, Illinois
3 articles 1 photo 0 comments

if my middle name was Trijntje

the bony letters would smush together

like a hug from my Nana and Opa


Trijntje is the softness of

fabric from Nana’s sewing room

cradled in my arms


Trijntje is the cannonball boom of

Opa’s laughter

striking my heart


Trijntje would unlock a door

i’ve never opened

would connect me to aunts

i barely know

would live in that cabin in the mountains

in the woodpile and barn and bedroom nook

in the peaks and valleys of the land

arms open to welcome me home


My middle name is not Trijntje

it’s Lynn

but i’m beginning to unearth

it’s quiet beauty

like an amethyst unveiled

like a soft-smelling flower

unfurling in my palm


Lynn means lake 

like the one in the mountains

where i used to swim


Lynn

is a soft whisper

over glassy water

Lynn

is a quiet exhale

before the starting gun

Lynn

is the soft strum of a church guitar

and the warmth of a blanket in rumbling storms


Trijntje is a bouncing strain

a verse to a song

my lineage has sung


But Lynn is a soft hum

the beginnings of a piece

that I will compose


Lynn is not Dutch but

Lynn is a beating heart

and my heart does not beat alone


The author's comments:

I'm half Dutch, and I've always wanted a Dutch middle name as a connection to that side of my family. But while I was writing this poem I started to understand the beauty of the middle name my parents gave me.


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