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These are the poems that just don't fit into the other categories... Strange, maybe, but brilliant nonetheless.

We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.

-gb

Driving down a backroad,
I spot a little girl -
Her dress is white and spotless,
Her hair in golden curls.
She sat there prim and proper,
A doll upon her lap,
She smooths its dress and then her own
While Dolly takes a nap.
I can't help staring at this child
As I remember, long ago -
This child I knew and loved but then
I let this dear child go.
Twas I, I think, that not too long
Was this self-same child;
Who played all day so innocent
At everything and smiled.
Older grew and more things learned,
The angel starts to fade;
Till less and less she smiles and laughs
And leaves what's left today.
I stop and sigh; I can't go on
And leave her sitting there -
My hopes, my dreams, my innocence -
And leave without a care!
Still no one cares and even I,
I know my chance is gone;
I should've been more quick to trust
Instead of driving on.

At sixteen I believed the moonlight
could change me if it would.
I moved my head
on the pillow, even moved my bed
as the moon slowly
crossed the open lattice.

I wanted a beauty, a dangerous
gleam of steel, my body thinner,
my pale face paler.

I moonbathed
diligently, as others sunbathe.
But the moon's unsmiling stare
kept me awake. Mornings,
I was flushed and cross.

It was on the dark nights of deep sleep
that I dreamed the most, sunk in the well
and woke rested, and if not beautiful,
filled with some other power.

-dl

Life will never be
A grand symphony by Beethoven
Or Bach or Chopin
There are wrong notes
And missed entrances
Accidentals
There will be times when
Your fingers cannot fly
Fast enough to keep up
And notes you won't be able to hit
No matter how hard you try.
But don't give up.
If you work and practice
The day will come
When your solo will ring out free
And clear
And the applause of the house
Will make it worth the effort
And you will be happy and sad
Until the last notes fade
Into the mystic.

-cah

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!
How dreary - to be - Somebody!
How public - like a Frog -
To tell one's name - the livelong June -
To an admiring Bog!

-ed

Imagination -
Such a powerful word
It condemns all that is ordinary
By raising it to a higher level
I sit with my pen
That is mightier than your sword
Which you fight so diligently with
You try to conform me
To your standards
When mine are so much higher
You are afraid
Afraid that I will not walk your walk
Will not think your thoughts
You afraid of my education and methods
That take me beyond your tin soldiers
Lined up against a wall
Wishing to do your every request and
Bowing to your every whim
You are only mortal
And are master of none
But those who fear you
You play with minds
But not mine, I'm free from that
Free from the games of mice and men
I am my own person.

-sl

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor -
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now -
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

-lh

I wish life were a McDonald's
where what you want is what you get.
But instead it's that crappy hot dog stand
on the way to the beach
where they put onions on your hot dog
even though you specifically said, "no onions"
because you hate onions.
So you throw it away even though
it cost you your last dollar twenty-five
because you're too scared to complain
to the guy at the counter.

-jt