published 2003 by Creative Communication, Inc.

A Typical Morning

I open one eye and lift up my head
I look at the clock and it fills me with dread.
The numbers shout six, zero, and five
a half hour to go I'm not sure I'll survive.
I fall back asleep in a minute or so
only to wake up in a LED glow.

It's six thirty now, and I have to prepare
for the long day ahead I will need some school wear.
I grab my orange sweatshirt and throw it right on
it goes over my head and then I am gone.
I grab Dad's cold toast as I run out the door
leaving a notebook alone on the floor.

At the end of my driveway I realize my error
the thought of what I've done fills me with terror.
"I forgot my poem!" I admonish myself
it must have been left up on my bookshelf.

I run back down the driveway with leaps and great bounds
then search my room desperately looking around.
And suddenly it hits me like a pile of lead
it's Saturday morning so I fall back in bed.

Ian Bowden
Traverse City West Jr High School
Traverse City
Grade 9