My Competition Piece Poem by Nadalia Bagratuni

I was poised,
I was proud,
I had just finished in seven minutes,
Why or why, haven't I heard,
Surely by now, they wouldn't have dared to give it to that nerd.

There were seven in the flight,
This was true,
One had blue hair and read,
While chewing gum -while enough said!

The other people weren't much,
I know I must have finished in the top of the bunch.

The judge was so cute,
I was so glad,
You see I was the first out of the shoot.

Now, the waiting takes forever,
I realize that the judges have those comments that I despise.

However, I simply must make it to round two,
Please, oh, please Lord give me at least a one or a two!

Oh, the ballots are back,
And here comes my coach,
She has a smile on her face,
And she grabs me by the throat.

She asked me,
I have the ballots here,
How did you think you did?

I replied back,
I simply must, I better have gotten in!

I explained to her that six others were mostly bad,
Their pieces were terrible and it was more than sad,
I told her that mine was the very best one,
I know I have done the best in that round.

Her smile turned to a frown and she told me the news,
She explained that I didn't place one or two,
In fact, the girls with the blue hair was number one,
The boy with one tooth was number two.

I had finished dead last,
Number seven,
Oh, lord, I was just about ready for heaven.

I was mad,
I was upset,
I was shaking,
How could they be so mistaken.

I was shaking so hard,
I woke up,
The coach looked at me asked, ' What is a matter? '
I told her what happened,
She just smiled and said, ' Go back to sleep we have another hour before you read! '

Shortly I was just like I was before,
Under the influence just like before,

However, this time was round two,
I was in a panic, what should I do.

I had made it to the finals,
What should I read to make my name appear in the annuals.

This time you see it was readers choice,
But what I wanted to read would make my voice hoarse.

I began with a teaser,
I knew I would be a crowd pleaser,
I spokely softly,
I grabbed the audience,
I made them listen,
They were without words,
I was the best you could be,
And I read in position three.

The first person to read was an odd little fellow,
He read his piece about a man who lived in a hovel.

The second girl was just a little worse,
She read so fast because she had taken a speed reading course.

Then there was me,
I was perfect in everyway I could be.

My diction was steady,
My poise was the same,
I had the emotion,
I was ready for that game.

I stood in front of the room and said, ' Hello, when you read this I will be dead! '

The room became quiet,
There wasn't a sound,
No one made a peep in my round.

Oh there was a cry or two,
I could see that judge was getting upset,
I tried to make sure I would finish in time,
I skip over a part that didn't particuarly rhyme.

Then before it was over,
I was so excited,
I couldn't wait until my ballot to see what I did!

Within an hour,
The die was cast,
The speaker went to the table to announce,
The winners of the Poetry rounds.

They started out with the sixth place,
They the fifth,
Finally the fourth and then I became nervious.

When they called out my name and I had won,
Would I walk up to the stage or would I run?

Would I fall on the floor,
Or would I trip,
This is where I began to flip.

As I waited,
I never hestitated,
I knew in my heart,
I had won,
I had done my best and now I was done.

The problem was when I heard my name,
I got out of my seat and ran down the aisle.

The coach turned around and told me,
Sally please sit back down,
We are almost at the town,
All I wanted to do was to wake you up,
So you too can be wide awake when you compete.

You see that is the story of the girl on seat three and how she got to her first competition.

Now, things are much different,
I'm much more confident,
I learned that it is not how much talent you have without,
It is how much talent you have within
That counts!