Emma Kalliway Poet Prose

When You Are a Number In High School

When you are in high school
And you want to grow up to be something you consider even a little bit significant
Your life turns into a list of priorities 
And if your priorities do not result in a good enough gpa 
Or can't fit into tiny boxes on an activities chart 
Then they aren't worth your time 

When you are in high school 
And you want to grow up to be something you consider even a little bit significant
Your parents and teachers and counselors opinions will consume you

When you are in highschool you create your own consequence filter 
All of your obligations go through the filter 
The ones with the biggest consequences you do first 
And the smallest consequences go last
Usually the smaller consequences ones are 
Eating enough
Sleeping enough
And keeping check on your mental health

When you are in high school 
And you want to grow up to be something 
You lie to your parents a lot
You tell them you’re fine
You tell them you go to bed at 10 every night
You tell them the worst part about your day was a class you don't like 
When in reality it was the overwhelming stress of pleasing the adults in your life 

When you are in high school
And you want to grow up 
You earn an obsession with numbers 
Including your  
SAT score 
ACT score
GPA 
AP test scores 
Every big lest 
Every little quiz
Every assignment you put in a basket 
Every notebook you spent diligent hours perfecting
Because all you work doesn't matter if the numbers aren't high enough 

When you’re in high school 
And you want to grow up to be something you consider even a little bit significant 
do NOT  stop and ask who you are doing all this for 
You aren't doing this for yourself 
Just go to class walk through the halls get the good grades
Score high on the SAT, ACT, AP 
You can live for yourself 
When you are doing something significant with your life

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Tim Smith April 6, 2016 at 4:41 PM I hate to say it but that is the way society has become. It is a numbers game. Many of the classes are useless unless you are going into a certain field. I have two in HS and another one next year so I see where you are coming from. Nice write Emma.