Hazel Head Shot
A Change For The Better
by Hazel Katherine Larkin

The first social token
I ever received
That branded me as yours
This reptile is not
Shedding its skin
And shrugging off the stigma.

I was never given to you
You robbed me from my cradle
Stole my body and
Pilfered my mind

But now I am reclaiming them
I’m changing the story
And throwing away all
That can bind me to you
And you can do nothing about it.

PHOTOGRAPH: Hazel Larkin in her native Dublin, Ireland (April 2015).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: “A Change For The Better” refers to the fact that I changed my last name when she was 16, because I realised I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with the one I was given at birth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hazel Katherine Larkin was first published at the age of 12, and has been writing for stage, screen, and publication ever since. Having spent half her adult life in Asia, Hazel currently lives in Ireland, where she is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, and is busy raising her children.