Like It Is - student backpacks

May 26, 2011

Like It Is

Like my room,

my backpack is

is

is

my life.

It may be heavy,

but I really have to pack all

of the things in. 

Nothing is removed at school,

but those few reports demanded,

the pencils expected,

and the cell phone

(when no one is looking).

Nothing is removed at home,

but those few things important

to survival—a math book

for the homework; the English anthology

in order to read Twain, maybe Dickens;

and lately, above all, the topic list in order to practice

over and over-the five paragraph essay.

(Occasionally I don’t finish the history research

at school, so must retrieve that assignment, but it

is returned pretty fast to the pack.)

I must be sure that

I don’t miss a beat

of my year,

the math,

the English

the history,

the geography.  And so,

I lug the pack

back and forth,

heavy on my back,

looking like I’m bound for Harvard,

or somewhere,

all that bulkiness the sure sign of success. 

All these things

move me forward,

doubtless because the higher powers

deem it so, but also because I

need them to form part of me,

to create the me that is

the school-going, sometimes-serious,

often-worried-about

how I look,

how I seem,

how I drive,

how I dream,

but never worried about the pack.

It’s just all in there, ready for student use,

just in case it’s needed.