Out of the Past

I was talking to my best friend E the other day and he brought up something from the past that made me smile.

E and I have known each other for quite some time and went to the same junior high and high school. Though we weren't particularly close back then, usually our last names put him sitting right behind me during homeroom or other classes with alphabetical seating arrangements.

Anyway, E told me that something he's always remembered was that I once showed him this language I had made up and it really impressed him that I had even gone to the trouble of conjugating the verbs. I had totally forgotten about that! Gosh, what a little nerd I was (and still am)!

I'm going to raid my high school files to see if my petit language is still around. If not, I'm sure it will be fun to read all the stories and poems and other random scribblings. I was so in my own little world back then.

Until I report back, here's something that I do remember (it actually got an honorable mention in an LAUSD poetry contest...the theme was "Discovery"):

An Accident and a Discovery

An accident and a discovery
He saw it no other way
A new talent was found
For no-talent Jim Gray

The slip of the hand
The loss of a life
The fresh scent of blood
On his broken-in knife

Morbid thoughts unleashed
From his no-talent mind
A killer he is
What a wonderful find

Meticulously slashing
His newest ambition yet
The unassuming corpse
Someone he never met

No talent should be wasted
Says no-talent Jim Gray
Especially when you're so bored
And haven't any pay.

I wrote this as a sophomore, and I was pretty dark in my thoughts back then. Most of the winning poems had to do with discovering yourself, beauty, knowledge, etc. and there I was with a poem about discovering serial killer tendencies. I'm actually surprised my English teacher didn't send me to counseling.