Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
and he called it "chops"
because that was the name of his dog
and that's what it was all about
his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts.
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
and he let them sing on the bus
and his little sister was born
with tiny nails and no hair
and his mother and father kissed alot
and the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
and his father always tucked him in bed at night
and was always there to do it
once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
and that's what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of the new paint
and the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
and left butts on the pews
and sometime they would burn holes
that was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see santa claus
and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed alot
and his father never tucked him in bed at night
and his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it
once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
and he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
and that's what it was all about
and his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
that was the year Father Tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of the Apostles's Creed went
and he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
and his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
and the girl around the corner
wore too much make up
that made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because it was the thing to do
and at 3 am he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly
that's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
and he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
because that's what it was really all about
and he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen
Strangely enough, the first thing I noticed about this poem was the lack of capitalization and punctuation. Is that how it was written in the book? If so, then I think it really adds to the effect of connecting the boy’s life together and making his life one continuous story. I also thought that making the boy’s life progressively worse showed how drastically one’s life could change and how many different aspects of life come together. Each stanza is a different stage in the boy’s life, and in each one, different parts of his current life is explained. In each stanza he mentions something he writes, his mother’s pride, Father Tracy, his sister, his father and mother’s relationship, his crush, and his father tucking him in. These conditions become worse as the poem goes on and suddenly in the last stanza, this pattern is disrupted by a description of a deeply depressed boy. Even though this was clearly the saddest part, I like it the best because it brings his whole life together and shows the effect of what has happened to him. Is The Perks of Being a Wallflower a book of poems or is the whole book about that boy in the poem’s life in normal format? I am definitely putting this book on my to-read list.
ReplyDeleteTo adress one of your questions immediately, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not a book of poems but rather a novel. This poem was a present given to the main character.
ReplyDeleteThe format of the poem in my post was consistent with the way it was written in the book. For me, the aspect of the punctuation (or lack there of) that really impacted me was the fact that there was no period at the end of the poem. It demonstrates a common theme that is portrayed throughout the book: One's story is never finished being written. This poem, and the book in its entirety, is all about progression and development. As it is obviously displayed in this poem, people change. The style of writing only emphasizes that point. I feel that it is very effective and very honest. In fact, one could say that life is just one giant run-on sentence.