Life Changes Poem by Dónall Dempsey

I had 2 boy fishes
Bubble & Squeak
(but they croaked it) .
I cried when they died.

Now I’ve got 2 girl fishes
Kisses & Cuddles
(& they swim real neat) .
Sweet!

I lost my teeth
& Mum meets

her new boyfriend Trev.

Mum & Dad - split.

Dad got engaged.

My sister had her first kid
at 15.

I had my hair cut short
& was sad.


I think poetry...puberty’s
a bit of a change

because you grow tall

grow spots

grow more hairs

in private...
...places.

I got a lot older & I kissed my first girl.

Girls have changes in their chests
becoming outstanding.


Testicles get bigger.


Both sexes change emotions.


The way I feel ‘bout growing up is


...I’m scared!
I got shingles because I was depressed.


I got foot & mouth for humans.


I got something wrong with my legs.


I don’t want to grow up but


I will have to just


...deal with it!


I swam with dolphins.

This is the Snakes ‘n’ Ladders

of my life.

* * *
These are not my words...I just strung them together on a string to see where it would take them. I was marking essays for the little ones who had just left the secure world of primary and were now floating around lost in secondary. They were given the essay title LIFE CHANGES and these are the words and life stories of 32 little people and how they see the world and themselves. I didn't change anything just collected and collated and put them together to make this pattern. This is their individual/collective poem. Their voices and view of the world is unmistakeably their own!