Poems

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March 24, 2005

Bubble Brain

In my patent leather days
I loved to learn
Mother taught me
Cursive writing, multiplication and
Long Division.
That was how we played
As I eagerly awaited
First Grade.

Finally, real school
Where I got papers back
In red ink
PLEASE PRINT.
You know it's not fair
To have a child ahead of the others
So, I please printed through.

And all those Dick, Jane and Spot
Self-paced reading workbooks
Ran out before the school year.
"What am I going to do with you?"
I'm sorry. Don't be upset.
My teacher. My world.

The one who knows everything
Suggested that I skip a grade
But Mother wouldn't let me
Because I needed to learn
How to get along with kids my age
"We don't want her to end up weird"
So I stayed with the group.

Remember those yearly standardized tests
That measure intelligence in percentile?
I got one back with asterisks past 100 -
To the edge of the paper -
But at least I was in a normal grade.

I went with the group to high school
Where the boy next to me
Made sure I learned that
If you do your homework
And answer the teacher's questions
Correctly
That made you a smartass.

While others tried to hide their grades
From their folks
I practiced the art of appearing normal
Keeping my grades a secret
From my peers.

I finally made it to college
Where they let me
Learn all that I wanted to -
So every night I went to the library
To study with the group.

Step-father knew that I was lying
Because no kid studies that much
"You must be partying or something"
And when I made the Dean's list he realized
That is spite of everyone's efforts
I still turned out weird

The next ten years I spent
Being all that I could be
"If one does it, they all do it"
Yes, drill sergeant.

And like everyone else
I attended school part-time
And like everyone else
I didn't answer teacher questions
And like everyone else
I stayed with the group.

Posted by BlueWolf on March 24, 2005 11:19 PM