Poems from Junior High School

When I was a kid, the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades were in the Junior High School. I was 12, 13, and 14 years old when I went there. I believe these two poems date from those days.


Bumblebees
(dedicated to Joyce Kilmer)

I think that I shall never see
A stranger sight than a bumblebee.

An insect, that's an arthropod,
With too-small wings and a too-big "bod."

By law, the bumblebee can't sail
And pelts the countryside like hail.

How, then, does he stay afloat?
He does not sneer, or cry, or gloat.

Instead, he gives his wings a flit
And lives each day without thinking of it.


[The poem above was written after I read that Physics could not fully explain how a bumblebee could fly. I have since read that they figured it out. This poem was published in my high school "lit" class "magazine."]



Chocolate-Lover's Lament

My mind is made up.
I won't let it waver.
I'll go off my diet
For a treat that I'll savor.

My brain, it says, "No."
My stomach says, "Yes."
My mother won't like it
I have to confess.

But like it or not,
My waistline will pay.
You can't miss the call
Of a chocolate souffle.


[This was also published in the high school "lit magazine." I played around a lot with the last line (which eventually yielded the title) but some of the things that worked in terms of meter were, at best unexpected, and at worst, well, disgusting - but I was in junior high school. This tastiest version is the one that survived.]