A Poem Called. Poem by Marisa Unknown

On a thin piece of paper she found on the floor, she wrote a poem called 'Dad' because she had never had one before. The kids at school took her poem and ripped it to shreds and called her a weirdo because she never had a thing called a 'Dad'. She wrote it over and showed her teacher who gave her an A with a gold star at the top. She took it home to her mother who showed the whole family and posted it right above her calendar wall so every one in the house could see it.

On the back of a sticky note, which had already slightly been used, she wrote a poem called 'fear' because it's the only thing she would be feeling when all of the lights went off at night. She showed her teacher the poem she had wrote on the not-so-sticky sticky note, leaving her teacher feeling the name of the poem. Her teacher showed her mom who in fact had loved the poem her daughter had wrote and posted it on their fridge with a magnet in the shape of a heart. Her mother read it to friends and family feeling proud of what her daughter had wrote. Her friends thought she was strange but they liked her all the same. That was the year she got a prank love note from the mean boys down the block. They told her she was sweeter than sherbet which she knew was just some silly joke and would never be true.

On a white sheet of paper lined in light blue and with margins in a faded red she wrote a poem called 'pretty' which she knew she was not. She showed her teacher who gave her an A and a pat on the back. She showed her mother who hated the poem. She hated it so much she ripped it into hundreds of pieces and never showed anyone what her daughter had wrote. She sat in her room, ignoring her friends and the compliments the boy down the block would give her every evening knowing they must have been lies.

On an old wrinkled paper stained from coffee on the upper left edge she wrote a poem called 'love' because at the time it was cool to write about things you knew nothing about. She showed her teacher who did not understand a verse or a word the poem had said. She showed her mother who threw it away not caring what her daughter had to say any more. Her mother was different, different than before. She put on heavy black make up and wore pants that cut off her circulation because it was 'in' at the time. She got made fun of but she had no idea why. That was the summer she discovered love and figured out drinking was no way to rid of her pain.

On a small piece of paper she found in her dresser drawer she wrote a poem called 'the boy' because all she could think about was that one boy who has stolen her heart. She showed her professor who looked at her funny and gave her an A. He left her a note that very same morning on her front door step telling her it was over and left her ratty old shirt laying in a heap consumed in his sent. That night she cried her self to sleep.

On a piece of yellow paper with light green lining she wrote a poem called 'nothing' because that was how she was feeling that night. And on each wrist she left a slit in the shape of an A just to show how good her newest poem was. She posted her new poem on the bathroom door for everyone to read because on this night she didn't think she'd make it to the fridge.