Freshman Year
Oh you poor unfortunate soul
lost on the first day of
high school,
stumbling through an
unnavigable metropolis of
new, people, places.
So excited, so awkward
in your long shorts and
kiddish T-shirts.
Uniforms never taught
you how to dress normally.
As you trip up the stairs
As your locker starts a
feud and refuses to open
you feel the shame
Nerd, nerd, nerd, (outcast)
that’s all you were in
middle school, the word
churned and curdled
in your mind and
You feel bitter.
Bitter and frustrated
at your own social inability.
“Middle school residue”
that will take
a while (your life)
to clean off.
Maybe you’re the
Cinderella story who
never found a fairy godmother within her.
Maybe high school will
just be a repeat, sorry
record playing on loops
(you were always out of
the loop).
Or,
maybe not.