My Last First Day
On my first first day,
I wore a black strapless top
with matching sandals.
I had a huge crush on Gray Thurstone
and a terrible tanline.
On my first first day
I was a vegan. (Gag!)
I was 20 pounds lighter than I am now,
Probably because I was eating cardboard for lunch,
But I still desperately wanted to be
One of the skinny girls
And wear a bikini and a size small
Field hockey jersey.
On my first first day,
I went to Nancy's and got a
Cranbran bagel with honey and no
Cream cheese - vegan days, remember?
And then I "officially" introduced myself
To Kit Llewellyn.
At 13, I made sure to get my foot
In the door of her office,
Which is probably why I still haven't
Found my way out.
On my first first day,
Mr. Paice had a Mohawk,
I got to school 30 minutes early -
Which has never happened again -
And Sra. Katz intimidated me -
Which has never changed.
Sophomores, if today,
Your second first day
Is a bad day that's okay because you...
Won't remember any of it.
And juniors, you're pretty safe too,
Because all I remember from my
Third first day is that
Mr. Miron stole my keycard.
But freshmen...you better make it a good day.
I promise you will remember it.
I promise that this is the only school
In the world where Chinese Lion Dancers
Roam the hallways at the whim
Of a civil war re-enactor.
I promise you'll get that joke eventually.
I promise that here,
If you work hard and show up,
You can be a leader in field hockey AND
Quick recall,
Even if you're not the highest scorer
On either team.
I promise that you'll cry in class a lot.
Usually, because you're laughing so hard,
But sometimes, because you're in Calculus.
I promise that your sports practices will get changed
At least one a week.
Or if you play field hockey,
Twice a day.
I promise you'll like art,
And I promise you'll hate the back stairway.
I promise you should go to the big games,
And the plays and the talent show,
Because that's when you'll realize
just how much love is in this room.
I promise that we are a family,
even if a highly dysfunctional one.
I promise that unless you're Jack Costel,
You will get sick of McDonald's.
I promise that Ms. Gorman does get sick
Of hearing about your day to day problems.
But you should tell her about them anyway,
Because somewhere along the line
She teaches you how to fix them yourself.
Most of them anyway.
I promise that you won't be friends with everyone,
But you can be friends with anyone.
I promise that most of the poems are
Shorter than this one,
But some will be even longer.
I promise that sometimes 6:30 a.m.
Will come way too early,
And you won't be as excited to get up as you were
On your first first day.
Okay honestly,
I promise that a few times over the next four years,
You'll get three hours of sleep
And you won't want to get up at all.
But I promise that there will be these
moments where out of nowhere
it hits you,
That this place is special,
And here you are loved.
And you know in your core
That this is where you belong.
One of those moments will be your last first day.
On my last first day
I think Gray is a good friend and a good man,
And somehow I still haven't had a single class
With him, which seems mathematically
Impossible in a school this small.
On my last first day I still have a pretty bad tan line,
But my hair looks better
Because I got Jillian to fix it.
On my last first day
I can't believe how much I didn't know
on my first first day.
But I'm proud of how much I've learned
And how much I still will.
On my last first day,
I didn't just come to school.
On my last first day,
I came home.
Kinsey Morrison
