Dandelion Boy (Sample)

Grass Seeds

Kids don't know

what loneliness or pain is.

They can feel it but

they don't know.

They can just get up again

and go on

as if it were

a distant memory.

I wish I could be like that again.

To be oblivious to those

hurtful things.

I'm thinking about it now.

Preschool.

I was the smallest, chubbiest one there.

Even then,

the flowers and weeds were

evident.

I could feel it.

I just didn't know.

It seemed like all the little girls back then were looking for

a "best friend" in that small school house.

I was no different.

I wanted someone too.

But I was too dull;

too uninteresting.

Without being conscious of it,

I tried to bribe my way into

my classmates' hearts.

Like offering nutritious soil in exchange

for their beauty upon this

bare plain.

I had my mom and dad buy me

the newest toys,

the prettiest accessories.

Not because I necessarily

wanted them,

but because

it was the only way

I could keep the others

around me.

It worked temporarily.

But they never

stayed.

They tired of me easily.

And again,

I was alone to watch those buds

nurture others' needs.

Mom and Dad worked late then too.

I'd wait by the window,

Watching for them to take me

home.

My stomach would rumble.

But I was too shy

to ask for a snack from the teachers.

I just listened to the buds

leave the school

one by one.

No one noticed me

waiting by the window.

First Grade

I met a budding flower there.