The Volunteers

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Wed, 13 Feb 2019
  • 1863 reads
9 comments
 

 

What became of the volunteers?

At school they raised their hands

Stretched them to the ceiling tiles

While I looked down and made

Myself as invisible as the colourful

Butterflies that only I could see

 

What became of the sporting zealots?

Who joined every team and tried

And always did their best as I

Stood back and imagined my legs

Burning as in the zenith of athletic

Doings but imagining was quite enough

 

What became of the school choir?

The angelic tones and the eager

Faces attached which sang every

Word so earnestly without question

While I winced and felt ashamed  

That I felt so ashamed for them

 

What became of the drama kids?

Who loved the stage and year

After year would take to it and shine

While I hid with my tambourine and

Jangled it but not too loud in case

Somebody noticed me and I exploded

 

What became of the geniuses?

Shiny smug beetles which their cellos

On their backs who dissected  

Quadratic equations like they were

Stick insects while I just stared out of

The window and counted wasps  

 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

I'm not sure zenic is a word, but if it is this is a zenic poem, which is zenically good and I'm unzenically jealous, Ze nair.  

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ha ha, oddly enough I was just changing that to zenith but maybe it was meant to be zenic....I'm not sure I'm enlightened enough to know the truth. Thanks for the cherries.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

All schoolkids like to belong to some 'group', though maybe belonging to the group of 'ones that try not to be noticed and labelled' is not really a group except in the sense of grouping all the quiet individualists. Maybe some of them are wondering what became of you? I expect you've changed since those days, too?! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I just wonder where the outgoing kids got their confidence Rhiannon, is it hard-wired into them and how far did it take them? Also the children that never questioned and always did what was expected of them, is there a point at which that changed? It's interesting isn't it. I'm inclined to think that the quietest children had the most profound thoughts although I doubt anyone wonders about them because they hid themselves so well.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Interesting thoughts, – I wonder if the self-confidence of some was an armour, pretended in fear of peer views. But, yes, keeping your head down and quiet could probably give more opportunity to think, form views honestly, and not feel pressures so much. But, when they got away from the intense peer-pressure atmosphere, maybe some changed … Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I could relate to this poem Jane, when at school I was that quiet child who would go red if the attention was on her, who wasn't ever competitive and just let the popular girls carry on competing. Never would I volunteer for anything incase I failed. It was only when I left school that I came out of my shell.

I like those lines:-

While I look down and made

Myself as invisible as the colourful

Butterflies that only I could see

Kind of sums up the poem and makes me think of the shy child I was, but the butterfly I wanted to be.

 

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Me too Jenny, I would die inside if the attention turned to me. I think that's maybe what hones our writing skills, or at least the urge to write because the drive to communicate is still there and we find another way to do it. Thanks for your commentsmiley

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"geniuses? Shiny smug beetles" YES they were!!! Invulnerable, unsquashable, surviving everything. While I was the worm burying myself in the compost quiet of the library hoping no one would notice and send me squirming outside into all the noise and running about :0)

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ha ha, so true Di_Hard. I'm not sure we even had a library, we must have done, isn't that awful I can't recall it. Luckily we had lots of green spaces and trees for my eyes to zone in to. Thanks for your comment x