The Poetry Marathon

I started high school

At fourteen and shy; it sucked

Boyfriend went away.

Small fish in a big pool

No one knows me at this place

Want to go back home.

Halls echo silence

There is no place to hide

All the others stare.

Are they also scared?

We can be scared together

Now I have new friends.

At thirteen, we passed each other.

I saw him.

He saw me.

Something sparkled, as we passed by.

I thought of him.

He thought of me.

Eight years later, we met. And knew.

At twelve

An awkward age

The things that fill your mind

Some things you really shouldn’t know.

Great guilt.

Your mind

Is not your own

No control where it goes

Feelings come that you can’t explain.

Great fear.

Let go

Get it all out

Be rid of it somehow

Don’t act on it, it just comes back.

Great shame.

Parents should know better.

About who they leave their children with.

Perhaps they didn’t even care?

Answers would be nice

Regret, if truthful, would be appreciated.

Acknowledgement might even help.

Praying it would end.

Everything so twisted.

Dying inside.

My mother knew he did it before.

Evil comes in deceptive packages.

I was ten and this year was so boring

To write of it would leave us both snoring.

Outside my window, the rain is pouring.

I hope soon to feel the thunder roaring.

This year, in fourth grade, I changed schools

Though we still lived at the same location.

Long-closed in our town, with a reputation for ghouls,

Many decades old, the building underwent renovation.

Our new teacher looked just like TV’s Wonder Woman,

All the boys were moon-eyed and drooled,

Though for nine year-old males, that wasn’t uncommon,

To see them act like fools.

I was picked for a new advanced class.

Only my best friend and I were chosen, what fate!

One day we were given an all-day pass

To visit the governor of our state.

I have a photo somewhere as I’m standing by him.

What things I would say now, but back then I was much too prim.

Ah, young love is an amazing thing!

His name was Dennis and he was so smart.

He said I was his queen and he was my king.

I didn’t know what I was feeling but he had won my heart.

This year, our town was hit by a storm,

I had never known such disaster.

Dennis lived in a trailer, I was afraid for that was my norm.

My mother drove me there but I begged her to go faster.

His trailer was damaged but he was unhurt.

That was a lot to feel when you’re small.

Our own backporch was blown away, leaving nothing but dirt.

It took the roof, the rails, the steps and all.

I don’t know what happened to my Dennis Dear,

His family moved away the following year.

Seven years old and second grade

With a wonderful teacher six feet tall.

My love for reading and writing did not fade,

I added new subjects and loved them all.

I rode the bus home an hour each day,

Even then I was a latchkey kid.

I picked up my sister from my aunt’s house where she would stay

I cooked and I cleaned and my feelings, I kept hid.

I wanted someone to look after me,

And let me be a child.

To show me things I couldn’t see

And be unworried for a while.

Seven years old is too young to know

Your parents can’t pay their bills and have nowhere to go.

The biggest day of my life finally came.

When I was six, I started school!

Nothing would ever be the same.

I was a big kid now, my class was so cool.

I got to read as much as I could,

I started writing my own stories too.

At the top of my class, they said I was doing good.

My world grew bigger and shinier, like everything was new.

I started writing stuff all the time,

Scary stories for my cousins and friends.

Never poetry though, I could make nothing rhyme.

The younger kids had nightmares and mother said it had to end.

Of course it didn’t end, I only stopped my sharing.

My goal in those early tales was to be the best at scaring.

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