They tell me not to talk to strangers,

yet they sent me to a new school with nobody I knew,

it's the first day and the teacher says her name,

she asks us all to tell her something about ourselves,

 

She says, "Timmy your pretty quiet",

a dozen pairs of eyes look at me and she asks me to speak,

I stand up at my seat and say, "my name is Timmy",

She asks me to tell the rest of my class more about myself,

I say, "I'm wearing a green shirt and got a PB&J for lunch",

 

What else was I suppose to say,

I can't tell her that grandpa Carl recently passed away,

I can't tell her that my parents argue every other day,

I can't tell her my little sister has been in the hospital since May,

 

I can't tell her the reaseon we moved here in the first place,

I can't tell her my little sister has cancer or that I have holes in my socks,

I can't tell her I only have a notebook and pen in my backpack,

She says, "well okay then",

 

Next thing I know she says what we'll be learning this week,

she says tomorrow we'll have homework,

Give me a break we're only in the second grade,

at lunch a chubby boy says,"i'll take that",

 

When I get home nobody is there,

they don't even care,

I got a cabinet in the kitchen full of snacks,

nobody to ask how my day was,

even if they were home to ask I can't tell them Bobby took my PB&J,

 

I know the routine that they work and spend timme with my sister,

they know they don't need a babysitter,

I beg them to stop putting me through that torture,

I once had one that yelled all day and one that kept bringing over her friends,

No matter where we move this place will never be home