"The Rubik’s Cube" by Belle Beauchesne (Androscoggin County Winner)
A solved Rubik’s Cube is viewed as perfection
Twisting and turning the tiles in all directions
Yet only one is the right combination
But wait, this sounds like a similar situation
In school, the challenge is to get the A
In front of friends, it’s to know when and what to say
At work, my job is to put on a good face
At home, it’s to keep up with this never-ending race
Conform, conform, conform, they say
For only one way to be is the right way
Twisting and turning, this game is endless
Everchanging faces, this act is tireless
Society’s standards guide us to fit in and know our place
Moving, speaking, and living without taking up too much space
To fit in with the rest of the world and never stick out
This monotony and blind compliance makes me want to scream and shout
Round, and round, and round I go
For when will I stop, I’ll never know
Changing, rearranging, just to please you
Yet maybe, just maybe, I want to try something new
To leave this life of constant perfection
To think my own thoughts, to see a new reflection
To be free, and to be myself all the time
And leave this lifestyle of being sublime
An unsolved Rubik’s Cube, so imperfectly incomplete
A once perfect thing, now seems so strange to greet
But I too am perfectly imperfect for just being me
Yet now I realize how beautiful my true and flawed self can be
How refreshing and empowering it feels to break free
The idea of being my true self fills me with glee
But there’s still one more thing to do
Before this Rubik’s Cube poem is through
I offer this chance for you to decide who
Who you want to be, the true and imperfect you
Or the perfectly solved Rubik’s Cube, always being controlled
Constantly changing, rearranging, and never ever bold
So do you choose the standards of society
Or have the courage to pick a life full of variety
To discover and realize, as I once had
That individuality and imperfection has never been bad
Belle Beauchesne, a sixteen-year-old Hebron Academy student, wrote "The Rubik's Cube," a poem about her battle with perfectionism and her struggles with insecurity regarding society's standards. Using rhymes and rhythm, Beauchesne tells the story of someone who is always changing to fit in with their social setting, but then realizes at the end of the poem that the only person they need to be is their perfectly imperfect self. An interesting fact about Belle Beauchesne is that she co-runs her school's online newspaper/blog, entitled the Hebron Review Blog, and has written for the hardcopy edition of the Hebron Review throughout her high school career.