Bad Day Poem by Gary McPhail

Its takes all my effort
To crawl out of bed,
I go to wash my face,
Then I get dressed,

I walk down the stairs,
Lingering to the kitchen,
I can smell the breakfast,
That mother is burning,

bacon, eggs, beans and toast,
covered in a thick black crust,
orange juice for drink,
and then off I go.

Do you have your money
I hear before I walk
I say yes I do,
and then I set off to school.

I need to hurry
I’ll miss the bus,
oh my god
I’m delirious.

I get on the bus
I pay my fare,
go up top
and light a cigarette,

I get caught
then thrown off,
everybody laughs,
as they carry on.

I kick at the floor
I hurt my foot,
this is the beginning
of a day not going good.




I limp up the hill
I’m already late,
the clouds start to gather
and it begins to rain

I pick up the pace,
my foot gets worse,
I’m hopping on one leg
It really hurts.

I hop into school,
the main office I go
yes I’m late,
I already know,

what’s my excuse,
I overlaid,
cant tell the truth,
I’ll have my cigarettes taken away.

I go into lesson,
English I’ve got,
I cant stop hopping,
on one foot.

What is wrong
the teacher asks
I banged my foot
it hurts real bad

I’m sent to medical,
A paper towel I’m given
to help relieve the pain
from my toe that is swollen

I learn that my toe is broken
I say great then get stressful,
all this trouble just to go to hospital
I’ve got to learn to stop getting into trouble.




I begin to think
whether the doctor would operate
take me to surgery
take a knife then amputate.

get a grip I told myself
they will bandage it up
then send me home.


I make it home,
my mum doesn’t know,
couldn’t get through to her
on the phone

what’s wrong with your foot
my mum says to me
I banged it on the floor
early this morning.

why did you do it
errm i say
why did you do it
don’t lie to me

I got thrown off the bus
how come she says
got caught smoking
up the stairs.

SMOKING
ARE YOU JOKING
I SHOULD'VE KNOWN
YOU ARE GROUNDED

GET TO YOUR ROOM
OUT OF MY SIGHT
I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU
for the rest of the night!




I get up the stairs
I get stressed
grounded after a bad day
just bloody perfect.



I lean against the wall
the rage builds up
I crunch my fist
and punch it hard
aaarrrggh I scream into the house
MY FINGER HURTS LIKE HELL

I’m definitely stopping smoking if this is what its caused