I can’t do this
this test 
I haven’t seen
my mother since Friday, since
she left with her boyfriend. 
She’s doing that
thing again. 
Grandma can’t read said
I shouldn’t have
to take a test on Saturday 
My father is in Brooklyn
somewhere looking for
his shoes
I can’t
do this this test. 
Saturday is for Pokemon
fried eggs with the yellow ball
wonder bread baseball sprinklers
jungle jim sponge ball. 
Saturdays is for timing the sun.
I can tell you
when someone
just got shot.
I can tell when
Andre is punched
or slapped by the
way the walls shake
But
this test I can’t do
this A B C see
I know
I know I can’t
because Ms. Phelps
said she said
I was stupid

Willie Perdomo is the author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely.  He spends his free time looking for ghosts on Lexington Avenue, between 103rd St. and 125th.

This poem was a 2007 Pushcart Prize Nominee.

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Keywords : Education, Pushcart Prize

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