Vegetarian Turkey Day

It seems as though all girls

go through the vegetarian stage

usually around fourth grade

to “save the cute little animals”

mine lasted a week

but it was the week of Thanksgiving

and among turkey

and potatoes with gravy

the putrid odor of fishsticks

that would haunt me after chocolate pie

became my Turkey Day dinner

and my vegetarian stage

ended the next day

Birthday Parties

At my grandmother’s house

my dad’s side holds parties

for everyone’s birthdays and we always

eat the plain yet oh so satisfying ziti

from the Amatos down the road

my youngest cousin

always brings his newest toy

new cellphone, new iPod, new scooter

and whines about how he doesn’t get his way

but at these birthday parties

we always get ice cream cake

from the Dairy Queen down the road

and my cousin never eats

the chocolate fudge in the middle or

the chocolate ice cream because

the frosting and vanilla are the only “good parts” of the cake

so he always gives the chocolate to me

so I cant help but forgive him

for having new things

First Heartache

I originally thought there were

sparks between us so I took the leap

I asked you to be more

and you said yes

and I hadn’t floated so far off

the ground when I walked before

but what goes up must crash and

break

it only took me a day

when you told me I don’t like you

that way

and my heart began to weep

and the tears flowed for days

then suddenly stopped

and that boy in my history class

began giving me shy smiles

and you, heart-breaker boy

became merely the first name on a list

of many

Please Let Me Play Now

Beep beep beep beep

the car alarm wont stop hammering my brain

and some parent is oblivious

to the fact that at that very moment

someone may be breaking into their car

my teammates are screeching along to ̀N Sync

and the whistles are blowing left and right

a never ending song of error on some poor girl

I really just want to get on the promising field

and help my clumsy counterpart win

but my game isn’t til later

so I’m stuck watching the JV team

lose over and over

forced to listen to their coach yell

louder Louder LOUDER

to GET TO THE BALL

until that buzzer says

Game Over