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
Copyright © Brian Johnston | Year Posted 2014
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