Getting Ready For School Poem by Randy McClave

I don't have an alarm clock
So, I always wake my own self up,
The night before I drank a lot of water
1 cup after another cup.
I read that's how they did it in the olden days,
That's what my history book portrays.

I dug in the dirty clothes basket
To find the cleanest school uniform to wear,
Nobody had washed my school uniform the day before
So, I looked for the cleanest one there.
Now I brushed my hair and my teeth in the dark,
Because, we have no lights outside the park.

I got my baby sister ready for school as well
Gently her hair I brushed with a comb,
I am currently the mother of the house
Because, our own mama isn't home.
Up the school steps I helped my sister climb,
Got my sister and me both to school again on time.

At our school we had a good breakfast
Our stomachs have now stopped their rumbling,
Now we enter into our classrooms
And as I sit, my teacher is already grumbling.
At me the teacher is fussing and being tensile,
Because, I ain't got no pencil.

Randy L. McClave