Pointless

Dear Public School...

No one pauses to read 

A page that is blank

An empty space

Without the touch of creativity

Or originality  

They tell us to write between the lines

The parameters permeate

And congregate into the walls

Of the box they tell us to think

Outside of

So what was the point?
Less of a belief that we
Could think
And seek the time and place
To stay on the page
The most prominent

In history are taught

To bless every place

They teach the periods from 

There to here

When great things happened

Where great people happened to be

And tell us to leave our mark

But whatever doesn’t make the cut

Gets erased

So bettering ourselves and

The surrounding world

Became a list of to do’s

Seemingly too long for one to change

And too daunting for a group to challenge

So what was the point?

The point in the graph

They taught us the highest

Was most successful

But failed to consider

The scale factor running up

The y-axis 

Changing the meaning, 

Definition 

Of whatever achievement

Was supposed to mean, 

Failing to exclaim

Wherever you are

Whatever you do

If it's good for you keep doing it. 

But what was the point?

As if we were all just pencils

They could manipulate

Condition and sharpen us

According to their needs 

But no we are people
And I fought for this next
Breath that I take
Step that I take
The strength it takes
To drag myself across this page. 

The logic of

Needing to feel important

Was ingrained into our brains

By test scores and grades

So the point became:

Get through to the end

Impress whoever needs to be impressed

And lose ourselves in the process

The instructions on a standardized test read,

"Bring number twos,"

But there are mechanical,

Graphite, coal, or colored

Pens, markers, and crayons,

But no there is only one way to be,

Whatever else will be discounted,

Erased. 

But when those shavings, 

The shreds of what could've been

Get brushed away,

Then there went the point.