The Class Scavenger Hunt Poem by Kim Barney

It was the twenty-eighth of May, a bright and sunny day.
We were ready for the scavenger hunt, a day of play.
Marilyn xeroxed copies of the maps and the rules
which had to be followed by all the schools.

The route was partly along the flow
of the Bubbly River (the water was low)
and fields of feldspar, row upon row.

Rajah and Ethyl didn't want others to know
that secretly they loved each other so.
Ethyl discretely watched her heartthrob in a tiny mirror,
and Raj, uncommonly silent, stayed close to watch her clearer.

Tom was a somber sight to see,
but what a ham Sterling turned out to be!

Elmo, Bill, and I let out a whoop
because we, a seldom-seen group
still liked to be heard;
now is that so absurd?

We needed to break off a small chunk of stone,
but suddenly Bill let out with a groan
and muttered, ‘Oh, drat!
Where is our hammer at? '

It was not to be found, so Elmo used his boot
and stomped the rock, and Bill gave a hoot,
for the boot did land upon his hand.

On his finger Bill found a gash, a half inch or so
from which the blood had started to flow.

Ted came over, saw Bill was hurt,
and pulled a cigarette out of his shirt.

Bill's face showed nothing but surprise;
he could hardly believe his eyes.

‘You brought tobacco? Yo! Ted! Your mom would have a stroke
if she had even the slightest suspicion that you smoke! '

Ted crushed the cancer stick between finger and thumb
while Bill just coughed and swallowed his gum.

To the wound the crushed leaves were applied,
and the flow of blood trickled and died.

When we realized we were running behind,
we wolfed down our lunch and set off to find
as many more things on the list as we could,
before the contest was over for good.

While we had been sitting there on the ground,
all of the others were running around.

Finally we had just one thing to get;
we were supposed to catch a fish in a net.

‘I abhor netting fish! ' Elmo gave a sad look.
‘The way to catch fish should be with a hook.'

But luckily we were the first to succeed,
and we raced to the finish line with great speed.

Our chances were few when the race had begun,
but in the end, the race we had won!