Your Hobbies are Only as Good as How They Appear on an Application

As a teenage high school student, it’s reasonable that one thing always on my mind is school

Not only school itself, but the lessons school has given to me

For a place of learning, school has truly taught me more things about life than about textbooks

 

The first one is that you are the number that is your GPA.

The test grades, the speech comments, the project evaluations

Sum up your personality, your potential

Better than anything you could ever do outside of a classroom

 

Two, that you are other people’s expectations.

The parents, the counselors, the teachers

And the bars they set for you

Make up all you have achieved to this point and what you will ever achieve in the future.

 

Three, which  is that your relationships with others define your ability to be socially accepted

The boyfriends, the girlfriends, the circle of friends

And their popularity status

Will hold you hostage as a prisoner of this system.

 

Four, that love is fickle and impossible to find in anything other than material things

The green pieces of paper with numbers stamped on them

That is what love is

And self actualization will only be achieved with massive amounts of it

 

Five, that technology and virtual followers and friends will bring you happiness

The numbers of likes, comments and favorites

And their real-world merit and weight

Will continue to fill you with joy year after year as you grow old

 

Six, that your body image is more important than what is inside your body

The media’s idea of “pretty” and “sexy” all translate to personal success

And you will never be good enough

Unless you fit the Seventeen Sports Illustrated Vogue image of perfection.

 

Now, with these life lessons in hand I think often about the future situations I may find myself in

And with all this valuable and applicable knowledge

I struggle to distract myself from the potential encounters that may occur

In which I can put this advice to use

 

So I take solace in running

In hearing the weight of my body land in just a footprint

In seeing myself fit my own, personal ideal of successful when I reach the top of a hill

In my time spent creative a health ideal of “perfection” for my body rather than poring over the online photos of airbrushed people who do not know me or my story

 

I let my mind take me on adventures

That even money could not buy

Through word after word on page after page of my writing, of my reading

Through note after note in song after song, heard on public transportation at my own personal concert venue

 

I brush up on the language of the law

In hopes that one day

I can argue a case so convincing that a criminal will find himself guilty

Or I can make a debut on my televised career, in the hall of fame right next to Judge Judy

 

I look at artwork

At paintings, bright and alive with color

That is not scribbled onto my face to make me beautiful

Or dyed into shoes that give me a false sense of popularity

 

And all the while, I watch my peers put the life lessons school has taught us into practice

And I wonder what the future holds, for us fortunate enough to have been graced with the privilege of learning

Where there are prizes awarded for having the courage to speak one’s mind

And respect is given for being able to walk in high heels, for throwing a ball the farthest

 

I live inside of a world inside of my head where I am the only one to be heard

And my voice rings the loudest, the clearest and the longest

But slowly approaching in my hindsight vision, my rearview mirrors

Is the future, labeled clearly but yet also illegibly

 

And it comes for me like a vulture circling its prey

My only escape is to be what they want me to be

So the ideas that make me tick and the things I love to do

Come second place to what school has taught me success comes through

 

Comments

thisispoetryproject

I am utterly blown away, especially by the second half of this poem! I really enjoy your style of writing because it is different-- almost scientific. However, in this poem you display your ability to paint with your words, too. You're a very versatile writer and you should cultivate your style, finding new ways to mix the matter-of-fact tone with your metaphors and colors.

My favorite part of this poem is the closure:

I live inside of a world inside of my head where I am the only one to be heard

And my voice rings the loudest, the clearest and the longest

But slowly approaching in my hindsight vision, my rearview mirrors

Is the future, labeled clearly but yet also illegibly

And it comes for me like a vulture circling its prey

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