I Wrote A Poem Poem by Manna Wilcox

Once on a white piece with pink lines
she wrote a poem
And she called it 'Sand box”
because that was her favorite place to play
And that's what it was all about
And her teacher gave her an A
and a gold star
And her mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to her grandma
That was the year father Morgan
took all the kids to the pool
And he let them sing on the bus
And her little brother was born
with little hands and big brown eyes
And her mother and father kissed a lot
And the boy around the corner sent her a
note signed with a row of X's
and she had to ask her father what the X's meant
And her father always tucked her in bed at night
because he was always there

Once on a piece of blue paper with black lines
she wrote a poem
And she called it 'Winter '
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And her teacher gave her an A
and asked her to write better
And her mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the older kids told her
that Father Morgan smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
That was the year her brother got braces
with a lot of wires and blue rubber bands
And the boy around the corner laughed
when she asked him to go see finding Nemo
And the older kids told her why
her mother and father kissed a lot
And her father never tucked her in bed at night
And her father got angry
when she cried for him to do so.

Once on a paper torn from her notebook
she wrote a poem
And she called it 'Love? '
Because that was a question she had about this boy
And that's what it was all about
And her professor gave her an A
and a concerned look
And her mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because she never showed it to her
That was the year that Father Morgan died
And she forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And she caught her brother
making out on the back porch
And her mother and father never kissed anymore
And the boy around the corner
had too much hair
That made her itch when she kissed him
but she kissed him anyway
because it was a thing to do
And at three A.M. she tucked herself into bed
as her father stumbled into the house
Once on a page in her diary she wrote a poem It was called “help” Because that’s what she wanted
she gave herself a 6 sleeping pills And helped herself And that was the year her father took off And her bother started smoking pot And her mother was never home And the boy around the corner always wanted Too much from her

That's why on a piece of toilet paper
she wrote another poem With old eyeliner
And s he called it ' Nothing'
Because that's all she had left
And she gave herself an A
and a slash on each wrist
And she hung it on the bathroom door
because this time she didn't think
she could make it to the Kitchen