High School | Teen Ink

High School

August 4, 2009
By Damilola BRONZE, Baldwin, New York
Damilola BRONZE, Baldwin, New York
3 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Welcome to our world…

Hallways swarm with the nasty stench of gossip.
7:30 and girls are stuck to their reflections, applying gloss to the lip.

The weight room is groaning; weary of guys straining their tired weights.
Boys are huffing and puffing, throwing up signs, talkin’ some “Let haters hate.”

Let’s take it a step further.
Dig deep into the world way under.

Parents don’t pay us no attention.
Telling us we deserve that detention.

We go off on a whirl wind.
Falling off the edge, we struggle to define who we are within.

Materialistic chicks feigning skinny, spitting fabricated lies.
“I rocks Gucci!”
“Chanel covers my pretty, blue eyes!”

Boys thinking they men,
Sagging jeans like they rep the pen

Kids come to school, sure
But apparently, we don’t carry bookbags no more.

Instead we arrive shining like stars from head to toe
But where are our pencils?
Where did our homework go?

Snotty attitudes, we cuss teachers out like everyday.
They don’t understand our heartbreak, and for this they shall pay.

Say what? You don’t agree?
Just take a look into the cafeteria and you’ll see.

We’re tough and hard and quite frankly, we don’t give a … I can’t say that word.
The truth is there, live and wild, but our vision is blurred.

High School. Take a breath and repeat it.
Feel the weight of it on your tongue, swallow, and eat it.

Taste its bitter taste.
Stroke its harsh face.
Smell it pungent fragrance.
Watch its ungraceful dance.

This is the world we live in day in, day out,
Without a pout.
We hold our heads high and violently we shout.

High schoolers, nah. Soldiers we are.
Riding on the top of that shiny cop car.

The author's comments:
This piece was inspired by what I've seen happening to the students in my school as of late. It's meant to be an ironic declaration of the manner in which we as teenagers tend to think. In general, school has become our second priority. As I observe my surroundings everyday I see more and more students attending class empty handed without even a pencil in sight. It bothers me to see my fellow classmates more concerned with outside activity rather than school. With that said this poem was written as somewhat of an eyeopener for my classmates. It's not always about what designer clothing you wear or the price of your new sneakers. What is really important is that we attend school for the appropriate reasons in order to create a better future for us all.

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This article has 2 comments.


on Aug. 24 2010 at 5:59 pm
Alcanno DIAMOND, Mexia, Texas
59 articles 0 photos 670 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is
made up of."

-- Bruce Lee

I like this a lot. Its really relatable and sadly true. The way you wrote this flowed well and I love the last 3 stanzas. Great job, keep writing!

tamaaraduh said...
on Aug. 25 2009 at 4:10 pm
Dami, this was such a great poem. OMG all of those things you said were true about our school. You should definately (hope I spelled that right) send this to more people. I think it's cool you're writing on Teenink, because I know writing is your forte and it allows you to express yourself beyond Pheonix and with more teenagers like yourself. I might even try to publish something here if I can come up with something as cool as you did. Congrats again it was great!