I Should Have Known That

A poem for my AP Lit class. We were assigned to write about our high school experience and thoughts on being a senior (I know I'm a senior!), but I  stretched the topic a bit. Oops. Well at any rate...

In trigonometry last year, my name was vacuum cleaner

Because I sucked

and puckered my lips in disgust like a lemon eater

We each have our mess as I should have known

Maybe then I could have been shameless in asking

For help in solving those darn inverse equations

I referred to freshmen seminar as the “unsharpened pencil in my side”

Because it was oh so dull

and thought to myself with self-righteous pride

That after watching paint dry it must be boring task No. 2

It was two years later when I finally learned

To look for the edgier corners and sides

My friends in the hallways always called me space

Because that is where I go

Or so they say, though I might never know

I hum between classes under my breath

and seem too distracted to consider the homework question

Though I swear I don’t try to be rude

I’m not sure what titles I will take and give this year

Because I am not clairvoyant

And though I would fancy the symbol and status

Of being a great prophet or wise oracle

I’m quite content to ride these bumps and bends

By the end of this year, you never know what I might know by then