“Big,” A Poem for Peridot of ‘Steven Universe’

A pantoum in which Peridot, one of the toughest gems on ‘Steven Universe,’ reflects on her new life on Earth.

Steven: “How do you feel?” Peridot: “Big.”

She won’t even look at me! It’s making me feel… smaller.
Smaller than I am, hard little Gem with a sharp tongue
and a sharper mind—although, I know, it’s been confined.
The point being: Earth can set you free.

Smaller than I am, hard little Gem sharp-tongued, are
those who sent me here. They do not know this place.
The point being: Earth can set you free,
can make you into you, as it has done for me.

The clods who sent me here do not know this place.
It’s not a shell. There’s so much life living here.
And me, among it, living too. And learning.
I’ve been learning new things about myself all the time!

There’s so much life living here. That’s what I’m doing!
I’m living here!
And now I know why—for her, him, me.
I’ve been learning new things about myself all the time:
How, small as I am, I can be bigger. Can be big.

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John Maher
John Maher is news and digital editor at Publishers Weekly and editor in chief at The Dot and Line, which he co-founded. His work has been published by New York magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and Esquire, among others.
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