1992
Can you believe I still have this piece of paper. I wrote this poem in the early weeks of grade seven (my first year of high school). I liked writing poetry in those days. My poems were small and silly but I remember it being a therapeutic process.
This particular poem was the best of my work from those days. I was inspired by the short story of the Headless Horseman. As ghost stories go this one is still an old favorite.
When my poem was printed out, Dad helped to decorate the piece of paper by carefully burning the edges.
In recollection, a girl at school told me that her father said that the poem was too sophisticated for a kid to write, and believed that I had copied another poem and changed a few words. I remember feeling gutted when I was told this. Eighteen years later in reflection, I still think it is a terrible thing for anyone to say of a child, though… in an awful way it kind of was a compliment.
If you would like to play along with Archive Friday and share something from your past (art, photo, or an old journal entry) then leave a link below…
