Brigid McBride

Procrastination

I have put this off
for as long as possible—
delayed and postponed.

Procrastinating
by talking to my friend and
telling her about
the way that I am
procrastinating writing
my poem that’s about
procrastination
by telling her about my
procrastinating
writing a poem that’s
about procrastination.
But not anymore.
And that is because
I have to turn it in now.
It’s likely that I’m
Procrastinating
still because I’m not doing
geometry work.
I guess I hope that
if I avoid it then it’ll
disappear—it doesn’t.
And I thought about
turning in a blank piece of
paper with the word
PROCRASTINATION—
But I don’t think Miss Parent
would be quite happy,
Especially if
I told her about how much
procrastinating
I’ve done. And I’m still
procrastinating because
I ABSOLUTELY
MUST check the latest
YWP “Twilight” reviews.
I ABSOLUTELY
MUST talk to my friends
about a snow day during
today’s Study Hall.

I am not from Vermont. I moved here only two years ago from the New York. No, I am not from New York City. I am from the Adirondacks. (They’re straight across Lake Champlain.) I don’t like Vermont for the leaves or for the mountains or for the maple syrup for the small towns and farms or for the snow and cold. In the Adirondacks, we have gorgeous leaves and the Adirondack Mountain Range. We lived right down the street from a sugarhouse. We lived in a tiny town and had plenty of farmers, cornfields, and cows.

Persephone and Demeter Are Reunited
Persephone returned from the Underworld yesterday where she had been taken as the bride of Hades. Persephone was so unhappy that she refused to eat while in the Underworld. Her mother Demeter was miserable on Mount Olympus. She cursed the earth; no crops grew, no women had children, and people started dying. Zeus finally had to send Rhea, his mother, to reason with her. He decided that Persephone should be able to return to Mount Olympus as long as he hadn’t eaten any of the Food of the Dead while in the Underworld.

Discovery

Does true discovery even exist?
Is there anything that’s been previously missed?
Is there anything that’s never been seen?
Or does discovery something else mean?

Is it something I’ve never seen before?
Is it something that just touches the core?
Is there even a definition, cut and clean?
Or is it something different for you and for me?

Can you discover things that are definite, for sure?
Or can they be things, incredibly obscure?
Things that are not, completely concrete,
Things that are not, clear cut and neat?

What can I discover, when I look out my door?
What can I discover, there must be so much more?
What can I discover, discoveries can’t be too hard to find?
What can I discover, just using my mind?

We can discover without even knowing,
With each new discovery, eyes start glowing.
And that is when our discoveries begin,
When we realize what our minds have let in.

I am from a land of normality.
Everything is normal.
Nothing out of the ordinary
Ever happens.
Chicken turns to beef,
Vegetables to fruit,
Candy to Brussels sprouts.
Pens to pencils,
Clouds to sunshine,
Sweltering hot to freezing cold.
Math class turns to English class,
Slides to swings,
See-saws to jungle gyms.
Mountains flatten out,
And new ones form from flat land.