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By Cecilly Stokes
As part of Bainbridge Youth Services’ This I Know writing project, Cecilly Stokes wrote this ballad earlier this year during 6th grade at Hyla Middle School. She originally intended it to be sung to Mazurka in A minor by Chopin. It was published in the Bainbridge Review Aug. 30, 2020
The Ballad of the In-Between
I’m off to
middle school with
out the safety
of the 5th grade hall
… Slamming locker
Where is drama?
He’s on’ da table
‘citin’ Hamlet
Oh, huzzah!
So many …
Kids obsessed with
vict’ry dances
Now, they’re dabbing!
What’s the deal with Fortnite?
Catching my breath
Looking around
feels like
“Lost in Space”!
Trip’d into
teasing tyrants’
tasteless taunts
slipping notes in hair
Gossip girls and
Boist’rous boys
turn their backs, then
murmurs in the classroom.
Pencil snatching
Shoves and pushes
Why can’t we just
get along?
It gets worse!!!
Creepy chanting
Being ship’d off
When will this all end?
Keep my mouth shut
Look away and
pull my hood up
Drowning in my dark thoughts
Find a corner
Take a deep breath
Let my mind
op’n up
Then found a …
Ping Pong table
Gagaball pit
Then I made friends
felt the same way
Snow ball fights and
playing sardines
Piles of pizza
Gutt’rs of ice cream
Understanding
eager teachers
took the time to
make us laugh
Clouds dispersing
sunlight broke free
forgot’n sorrow
no regrets
So I thought, but
there it goes a-
gain, the horror!
pointless competition
Tasteless taunts and
snarky comments
just to push ahead
But I have
good new friends who
watch my back and
stand in my defense
Th’state of in be-
tween the good and
bad we all feel
So I realize we’re all
twitchy tweeners
In between, yet
such is life in
middle school!
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