Middle School Poems
I
Changing
Classes
As soon as the bell
rings,
students pour out the doors,
surging down
the halls
shoving, jostling, dodging,
in a roar of voices.
Pushing
forward, I weave
in, out, and among
a thousand others,
feeling as if
I'm swimming upstream.
Which Lunch
Table?
Where do I sit?
All my friends
from last year
have changed;
my world is
f r a c t u r e
d
l o p s
i d e d
r e a r
r a n g e d.
Where do I
fit?
Nothing is clear.
Can already
tell
this will be
a jigsaw year.
Sunday Night
Meltdown
Suddenly remembering
(on
Sunday night)
that I have homework
due Monday morning.
The end of
my weekend,
like the end of a Popsicle:
instead of one last lick --
a taste of stick.
School
Dance
Chaperones
(someone else’s parents!)
bobbing offbeat
pouring fizzling pink punch
into Styrofoam cups
(but not too much,
since they think we still spill).
Black lights glowing
headless T-shirts
with blue-white teeth.
Kori, Jaleesa, and I
hide in the bathroom,
giggling and glossing,
wondering if
anyone will ever
ask us to dance.
Different
How are we so “different?”
If “different is just a thing.
If we all have certain features,
What does “different” bring?
People filled with hatred,
Can’t possibly see,
That there’s not really “differences”
Between you and me.
Looks can’t show “difference,”
If they’re just there to be seen.
If you don’t like someone else,
Why are they so
mean?
If being “different” is what is wrong,
I’d rather not be right.
And I’d want to finish living,
Doing the “different” fight.
Labels
I'm
sitting here right now,
Sitting at this
table,
And thinking to myself,
So, why are there labels?
There’s so
many labels,
I could name a few,
I'd be here all day,
So let me just
name a few.
The preps are the highest,
They're like a football team,
Just gossiping
around,
Planning their next scheme.
The jocks get the preps,
Supposedly cause they’re the best,
Its like an exam
to me,
You have to pass the test.
The skaters tell
themselves,
That’s what they do most of the time, skate,
They’re nothing
to the preps,
Actually, I'm wrong, they’re the bait.
Then there are
people who don't care,
That's where you will find me,
So I am begging you
please,
Just let me be!
I didn't come here to be a label,
No, I
don't skateboard or have the best tan,
But again I'm begging you,
Don't
label me like a can!
I don't know why I'm begging you,
It's no one’s
decision but mine,
So I'm asking you to step aside,
And just wait in
line!
I don't care what people think,
I think my friends are
cool,
They may not be popular or skate,
But they help me survive
school.
So, I'm just sitting here thinking,
Of how others must
pay,
For the mean rude things,
That some people say.
Homework! Oh,
Homework!
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you
away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You’re giving me fits.
I’d rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework
my teacher assigns.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You’re last on my list,
I simply can’t see
why you even exist,
if you just disappeared
it would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!