Star of the Week

The first week Bryce Cooper was Star of the Week.

Then the teacher spotlighted Travis,

And every day Monday, when he got in the car,

My Bryce would say, ”I’m gonna be Star of the Week soon!”

But then it was time for

Nina,

Joshua,

And Alyssa,

And I heard:“After Cameron, it’s my turn.”

As the weeks passed

Andrew L,

Savannah,

Madison,

And Tien

All stapled up papers

With their favorite colors and pets’ names,

And brought something to show-and-tell .

Last week Cameron brought a purple pony

And told the class that her favorite food is chocolate milkshakes.

Tonight Bryce’s backpack sits on the kitchen floor,

Stuffed with a soccer trophy,

A closed-eyed picture of himself at Disney World

And a Ziploc bag

Stuffed with dog-eared slips of paper

That he typed on the computer

And cut out himself.

For the last six weeks

He has been carrying them around

Arranging them on his bedroom floor

And keeping Isaac from eating them.

Had it been up to me

His answers would be neatly typed

In a readable font,

Spell-checked, cut with a paper cutter

And protected in a manila folder.

The picture would show him

With a smile on his face

And his irresistibly blue eyes

Would be looking right into the camera.

But I can’t forget

The poetry contest I entered when I was eight years old.

I was excited to write a poem,

But felt sick when I won

And had to read it to the library board

Since I knew that the prize belonged to my mom.

So tomorrow,

Bryce will be proud of the page

That proclaims his favorite toy is

AKTSHUN FIGERS

And his favorite book is

CHARLY AND THE CHOKLITE FAKTREE.

And I’ll be proud of myself

For letting him

Do it all by himself.

--originally published 1/06