Student Publishing Program ::

Trijit Banerjee

A Screaming Match (As my Birthday Present)

I
was furious.

Correction:
we
were furious.

It was my birthday,
and there were.
friends and presents
galore.

Though
I was excited,
the day turned out
to be
horrible.

My friends and I
were almost out the door
to go play
when it started raining
(Snort)
though drizzling is more like it.

Then the parents
told us that
we couldn’t go out
because it was
supposed to be bad.

So we were forced
to play inside,
and so
we settled down
to salvage what fun we could.

Then,
we found out
we only had
one TV.

We each had
a different idea
of what to do next;
you can guess what happened:

a screaming match
for the ages.

As we tried to settle it peacefully,
we decided on a vote.
We each raised
our hands,
and….it was
50-50.

We could not decide;
once one person changed,
so did another.
Finally, we decided on one thing:
“Let’s try
to sneak outside”.

And so we strove
to do so,
but in the end,
we could not get
to the promised land.
The hinges
of the garage door
betrayed us all
and I made note
to oil
those hinges.

Finally,
the sun came out,
and the parents gave up:
We ran outside for joy,
screaming our lungs out.

But the voices, formerly united in happiness,
soon changed to anger
as we settled down
to play.

We each had a different idea
of what to do next;
you can guess what happened:

a screaming match
for the ages.

I
was furious.
Correction:
we
were furious.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2012 EDITION]