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I Had A Poem

By popular demand, here is the poem I wrote last year for my English class that everyone absolutely loved (especially my teacher, resulting in a 26/25).

I Had a Poem

I had a poem
It was four pages long
It was about living a day, just one day, in my life
I wrote it immediately
It was done by the end of the day
The words just seemed to flow and there it was

Last night I gave up on it
I just couldn’t do it
I couldn’t stand up and read it
I knew I wouldn’t be able to

I thought it was my chance
My chance to share all my thoughts with the world
But I realized I couldn’t do it
Never all at once, maybe not at all
Even if I could
It was depressing
And that’s not what I’m going for

I wanted it to be perfect
Like the ones we read in class
I wanted it to be funny, but sad
I wanted it to be captivating, awe-inspiring
But reading it I was unsure it would be any of those
And that uncertainty tore me apart from the inside out

Is this really the world we live in?
Where I cannot complete an assignment for fear of being judged?
We’ll I’m not going to rant
That was what the other one was about
And that’s partly why I gave up on it

Well now I have a problem
I’ve got two minutes till English and I’ve got nothing
I’ve got killer writer’s block
I could write about the drooling idiots in my Spanish class
It would go something like this:

I feel sorry for my Spanish teacher
It’s Spanish three
And these kids can barely say “hola”
I feel like yelling at them
And occasionally I try
But my voice is drowned by another flood of stupid questions
I guess I shouldn’t care
I don’t have to do any work

No, might offend someone
I could write about my dog
No, not interesting at all
I could write about soccer
But I don’t play anymore
I could write about war and/or peace
Way too cliché

It should have a message but not be preachy
It should make you think
When I read it
Everyone should know its good
Even if they don’t know why
I want to look into the faces of my audience
And see that I have changed their lives
I miss my old poem
But I can’t go back now

Oh god the bell
Even if I had an idea I could never write it now
Did I really not complete the most interesting assignment I’ve had all year?
And possibly ever?
No
I did complete it
But as I said, I gave up on that poem

True story, I wrote that in my Spanish class and finished up in the couple minutes before the final bell for English. Everyone was pretty impressed. It’s funny to look back on it now because this website is entirely about sharing my thoughts with the world, although not in person. Also looking back I don’t think the first one I wrote was that good either. I’m not sure how well this reads on paper, it was designed to be read aloud, so if I get around to it I might put up an audio version.