School was a pleasing dream a world of wonder in which I yearned to get through the door to the desk to my graphite, with its #2 That scent of worn paper and paste upon the wood my place of reprieve full of my passions like a kid in a toy shop a poor boy in a rich man's world that was when school was a neverending treasure trove with golden coin upon coin but then was suddenly halted by a hard brick wall the word testing carved against the stones
3rd grade hit and then my mind began to bite their words turning them to solid stone as time passed on my thoughts degraded till all was gray and uniform like a blonde child in a **** school mind wiped and reprogrammed forced to stay in line scolded to sit still throwing culture out the window till only the standardized colors of a flag remained
Now I’m just a bibliophile sitting atop a pile with books and texts throughout the ages heaped under my feet but I can not make out their stories For their pages are blackened and their words blurred like a rushing river of soiled ink caused by cluttered shelves in the library of my mind that has been burned by torches held by men and women in suits and ties holding badges of authority like my mind is a criminal being investigated by the FBI
They tell me I should know that it’s easy 1, 2, 3 go but I can’t they locked my door once they began to teach their TEKS my colors hid and got locked beneath and now my mindsets stuck with no hope for release What was a rainbow with it’s *** of golden words Now resides a rusting locker with chipping paint and faded words
The creative concepts once in my head have been broken by just five letters that changed my words to dull markings and erased the color from my thoughts like the page in a coloring book quickly erased so the sky would be blue instead of magenta because the sky can never be anything else but blue
Five letters that I thought defined who I was that I was always worried to fail A big red F peeking over my shoulder Five letters that could destroy thinking that they controlled my fate three old ladies threatening with their scissors and thread to cut a cord made of multiple choice answers Five letters that could mean success or doom
like a hazy brained plan to stop a war that could only continue to grow worse as each soldier fell while running through the minefield of society
But those five letters are just a tool To add an extra grade and a little more rules Stamping labels upon our IQ Taking away our peace and serenity Angling our goals away from our own Adding stress upon tentative minds Redirecting our thoughts from right to left so suddenly trees are plastic and the alphabet only has letters A-H and all we know are large cement buildings instead of fields of flowers My whole world in a pint sized room with flowing waterfalls that burst from my imagination obscured by bland walls and heavy doors Colorful assemblies with shushing giants making up a chorus irony written on every poster of every wall learn and you’ll pass go to sleep and you’ll pass eat healthy and you’ll pass no need for imagination no need for outside experience just sit in that chair and take that quiz that test that exam that benchmark We’ll have fun later in the year, but that better not be your essay topic and that story better not be fiction And all the while I scream
I want color I want the sky to be magenta I want to use every word and phrase available to me I want to soar as crane flying across a lake I want to run like a track star to the the finish Throw down the pencils the printed paper throw away the charts and empty messages on the walls I want to run down the halls and dance instead of sit I want to sing instead of speak I want to learn instead of being taught
But all I can do is sit All I can do is write All I can do is conform So I won’t be thrown in the trash like a piece of worthless junk that still has a purpose So i won’t be stuck in the same room for more than eighteen years like a prison sentence for not knowing the laws of this country So i won’t be left behind like the homeless in the streets
School was a joy Education was a treasure But now is defiled by one small packet of paper