Empty Smiles vs Empty Pockets

I just spent three hundred dollars on a textbook
Three hundred
Dollars

 

And it's not even a real book
It's just pages
That you throw into a binder

 

So I had to go out and buy a damn binder too

 

"School's a scam."
A coworker tells me with a mouth full of cig
And I nod and tell her I know, I know

 

But then I went and dished out the three hundo

 

And, lord, it was painful
It was the tip money I'd been saving
Hours of toiling and smiling and saying,
"Have a good day!"

 

One day I want to tell someone to have a good day
And Mean it
From the bottom of my bitter, brittle heart
Not just to woo someone into throwing their change in the tip jar

 

So I spent three hundred dollars on a book
With a lump in my throat
And hands clenched in empty pockets
Because I'm going back to school

This poem is about: 
Me
My country
Guide that inspired this poem: 
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

Comments

mangocaulfield

YOU ARE AN AMAZING POET. I now feel all the feels. The -------holes that make school so expensive should really see this.

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