2 poems - a story

by genghis gilgamesh

today, said ms goodperson, i am going to select one boy and one girl to write a poem. then the class can vote on which of the poems they like best. ms goodperson had a hat and she pulled two names out of it. isaac jones, known as “ike”. ike was the class clown. his buddies immediately starting getting on him about having to write a poem. none of them said out loud how gay it was, which they would have if no teacher had been there. and mamie smith. mamie was a silent girl with no friends. none of the children reacted to her selection. ike and mamie were given an hour to write their poems. this was ike’s poem: the cave roses are red violets are blue the devil is evil and the government is too they found me in the woods and they put me in school but i already knew i was a natural fool i don’t know much but i know this when i wake up at night i know what i miss i am only a bear through the woods i creep i find a good cave and i get a good sleep all the children, but especially ike’s crew, laughed and applauded when ike finished his poem. next mamie read her poem. the hill life is a hill people try to climb the hill the hill of goodness but they keep falling back into the mud of badness the mud of greed the mud of meanness the mud of hatred the sun looks down from the sky the clouds float across the sky birds fly across the sky people keep climbing the hill and falling back in the mud the sun says nothing the clouds say nothing the birds say nothing but the worms tell the people to keep climbing and ants tell the people to keep climbing and lizards tell the people to keep climbing look, they say, we can climb trees so you can climb the hill if you keep trying so i, the poet, like the worms and the ants and the beetles, say to people keep climbing and some day you will say to the sun and to the clouds and the birds keep climbing and they will thank you and say thank you some of the girls clapped politely when mamie finished. that was very nice, mamie, ms goodperson said. now we will vote on which poem was best. all ten boys in the class, and four of the eleven girls, voted for ike’s poem. the other seven girls voted for mamie’s poem. when mamie’s mother came home that night, she said, you look sad tonight. mamie explained what had happened and how she had lost the poetry contest to ike. that’s too bad, honey, mamie’s mother said. i will make you your favorite dinner, rice a roni with pea pods, maybe that will cheer you up. thanks mom, mamie said. when mamie went to bed that night, she thought she might dream about her poem and the hill in it, but she did not. she dreamed about something completely different, but could not remember what.