Oh How I Hate You School Poem by Carrot Miller

Dear school i hate you,
i hate how you make me wake up every morning already dreading the day ahead,
i hate how lonely and numb you make me feel,
crowding me with people who don't even know me,
who don't even care to get to know me.
I hate you.

I hate how i sit your classrooms trying to keep my head above the desk,
above the work, above the water when im really drowning inside,
while teachers act like the only thing that matters is the next assignment,
the next test,
the next grade that decides that I'm worth something to them.
I hate them.

You used to feel safe, you used to feel secure,
you used to feel like home,
back when there was recess
and we would play tag on the playground,
when every laugh wasn't forced,
and every friend wasn't fake.

now it's just fake smiles,
heavy textbooks,
hallways that echo with noise but somehow sound like silence,
and me wondering when exactly you stopped being a second home and a safe place.

I'm exhausted showing up everyday,
pretending I'm okay,
pretending I'm not breaking inside,
you were supposed to help me,
but it feels like you're hurting me, past what I can handle most days.
I hate you.

I wish you still felt like home,
I wish you were still filled with people who made bad days into good ones,
and still filled with teachers who felt like second parents,
i miss what you used to be.