From The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

 Absolutely Nothing

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 

And 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 toenails 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 

And 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 its new paint 

And the kids told him 

that Father Tracy smoked cigars 

And left butts on the pews 

And sometimes 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 Apostle’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 makeup 

That made him cough when he kissed her 

but he kissed her anyway 

because that was the thing to do 

And at 3am 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. 

Osoanon Nimuss