(poems go here)
Sick Days

From the moment you wake I, I know something is wrong.
I feel a sharp pain in your throat, as if there are tiny needles, stabbing you each time I swallow.
When I cough I feel a large painful lump in your throat.
My body is extremely sore, as if I have been training for the Olympics.
Breathing is anything but easy.
Only one of my two nostrils seems to be properly working.
My brain is pulsing, I feel a pounding sensation in my brain.
Not knowing what to do, I yell for my mother.
Surely she will help.

I remember the previous line as I am ironically walking through the halls of school.
Each loud noise, seems louder.
Everything around me seems to intensify.
Feeling like death is a better option than 7 hours of school in this condition, I plop myself on top of a toilet.
I have no intention of using the toilet for what it is intended for,
It seems to be the only place I can get peace and quiet.
I close my eyes and imagine all the countless thing I wont be able to do now.
Weekend plans?
None now.
Having friends over after school?
My closet friends now will be the doctor and whatever he prescribes for me.

Robert Dortch