Metallica

i entered into my junior high poetry unit
with such a sense of excitement
to share the craft that i had discovered
just a couple years earlier
a craft that my gramma had
strongly encouraged

but what was to be a moment to shine turned quickly
into a moment of persecution

first i was accused of plagiarism
that these words may have been stolen from Metallica
or Megadeth records

when to no avail could they prove that the work was not original
they lambasted me for being too dark
disturbed
unsettling

the teacher not only refused to grade the work
but called in my step-dad and the other teachers for a meeting
to question my mental stability
and general outlook on life

now i do not
at all
attest to the merit of the stuff
i was 14
raging with hormones
and enamored with heavy metal
but it could have gone so differently

i could have been told that the poems were too formulaic
because they were
i could have been told that i needed to study the craft
because i should have
and i could have been told that
while these poems were not the finest of verse
they showed a desire to turn words into vivid imagery
and i should keep working on it

instead
they took away my cd collection
and told me there was something wrong with me