Growing Up, La - Part 3

Chapter 3: College Preparation My freshman year started quite smooth Touch football broke my leg My luck we had a tennis coach, That brought things down a peg! My algebra was like a dream, Played tennis, found it fun, And Science Fairs exciting too, My robots prizes won. But science then moved up a notch Geometry a match The Theorems needed for a test I could derive from scratch. In sophomore year the Sputnik scare, And NASA offered grants, For gifted Juniors special schools, Success by seat of pants. (1) Two Sophomores allowed to go, Both had ability, With new kids older and quite bright, Learned best humility. This signed my fate for now I knew There was no farm in me. A life spent drifting toward the stars My new reality. New friends from here would span my life, In college meet again, Shared interests bound us to a path, A subtle way to win! A men’s septet (2) sprang from school choir We traveled near and far. And formed a music brotherhood, Another door ajar! In Junior year an accident Saved me from typing class, A heavy door slammed shut one day My hand went through the glass. So there were operations then, To fix my injured hand, Piano lessons ended here, But I still played in Band. But no more typing, no more gym Which made me cry a lot. When cute girls came to sign my cast, Sparked dreams with wild subplot. In senior year my Physics class, Was taught by football coach, He could not teach, so we just read, His plan beyond reproach. Except for trig twelfth year a waste, Though English could surprise, For rhymes from out of nowhere flew, Delighting ears and eyes. But then, Oh God, disaster struck ‘All students write a verse,’ A cry rose up like howl of Lear, (3) What fate be more perverse? When I got home that evening, I took my pen in hand, And onto the page jumped four or five, For me no reprimand. But once in class I realized That half the kids had none, Discretely handed extras out, So friends at least had one. Oh, double, bubble, boil and toil, A witches’ brew released, Our teacher mailed to Poem Match ‘My’ patriotic piece! How ***** the quests of teenage kids The plans of ‘mice and men,’ The saving grace in all this mess? Thank God it didn’t win! With poem writing now affirmed, This poem came to be, And who knows, maybe, someday hence, I’ll write something you’ll see. Brian Johnston August 22, 2014 Poet's Notes (1) 'success by seat of pants' - means to barely pass or get by (2) ‘septet’ – a group of 7 male voices singing Barber Shop music with complicated harmony. (3) ‘Lear’ - King Lear’s bloody disaster in Shakespeare’s pay All three Chapters really are still a work in Progress. I look forward to repeated visits and comment on each chapter. Thanks for stopping by! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! More coming! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Chapter 4: Higher Education Chapter 5: Peace Corps Chapter 6: Career & Marriage But No Children Chapter 7: Farming Chapter 8: Retirement Chapter 9: Philanthropy Chapter 10: End of Life Preparations And more possibly