2017ProseHM

Poetry, Grades 7 – 9: Second Place

Delete — Shira Hanovich

I stared blankly at the screen. The teachers told us to write something meaningful. I laughed at
the thought. I’m not exactly good at writing deep, meaningful, spiritual essays. In all honesty,
that kind of topic makes me want to puke. I have a sarcasm problem that cannot be fixed, and
any attempt at deeper meaning just ends with me ranting to the wall about how it’s pointless. I
mean really, when am I going to need to use this in my daily life? I am one of the least likely
people to become a therapist. I looked back at my iPad. I glanced at a couple of the photos on
the wall. I picked one of me roller skating and came up with an idea. Not a good idea, but an
idea nonetheless. My hands began to work on autopilot, leaving my thoughts to drift. Really,
something being meaningful is subjective. In a few million years, when the sun blows up, is
some picture of a girl falling on roller skates going to mean anything? No. I reach the three-
paragraph minimum and stop to re-read. Ugh. This is so cheesy I can feel it oozing out of my
ears. I exhale and, for the third time that night,

Delete.