Once on yellow paper with green lines
He wrote a poem
And he called it "Skip"
Because that was the name of his dog and that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an "A" and a gold star
And his mother pinned it to the kitchen wall
And showed it to his Aunt.
And that was the year he had found himself to be
different than the other boys
But that was also the year that the little girl around the corner
sent him a postcard signed with a row of x's.
And his father tucked him to bed every night
And was always there.
Then on white paper with blue lines he wrote
Another poem
He called it "Autumn" because that was the season it was
And that's more what it was all about.
And his teacher gave him an "A" and told him to write more clearly.
And his mother told him not to hang it on the kitchen wall
Because it had just been painted.
The other boys teased him at school for being like he was.
And the little girl around the corner
Laughed when he fell down with his bike. He didn't like her anyway, he thought
He was different, even though he hated it.
And his father got mad when he cried to be tucked in.
On a piece of paper torn from a notebook
He tried another poem
And he called it "?" because that was his big concern
And his professor gave him an "A"
and a hard searching look,
and his mother didn't say anything because he never showed it to her.
And that was the year he had his first crush on a boy
who didn't like him back, and who told the other boys.
He got beat up at school, and no one seemed to Notice.
And he tucked himself into bed at three in the morning with
his father snoring soundly in the next room.
And that's why, on the back of a matchbook cover he
tried another poem and he called it
"Absolutely Nothing" because that's what it was all about.
His parents would never understand, so
he gave himself an "A" and a slash on each wrist and hung it on the bathroom door
because he couldn't make it to the kitchen. Back to my writing page Back to my main page rhlannon@hotmail.com
