Have you heard this one?

[behindTHEmask]

<sub>((I didn't write this poem. It's from book my friend read and she sent it to me. I don't know the name of the book, though I would like to. But here it is. I figure I should share this because it's got a lot of heart in it.

I hope you like it as much as I do.))</sub>

<sup>Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year that Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"
because that wsa the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed when he asked her to go see
Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad when he cried for him to do it.

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because he never
showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed or even talked
And the girl around the corner wore too much makeup That made him cough
when he kissed her but he kissed her anyway because that was the thing
to do
And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen.</sup>

_{((Maybe if you've read the book, you could tell me what it is and who the author is. It would be greatly appreciated.))}

[taliesin]

Wow. I like how it shows how he ages and how his life starts to deteriorate, to the point of suicide. No, I don't think I've read the book.

[Sparks]

That is just so good.
I've never read it before, but wow.
Really depressingly good.

[tchyarink]

Extremely sad but good. I love these poems that have a specific pattern, and I also love poems that illustrate a lifetime of someone. Again, extremely sad .
Sorry, don't know what the book is!

[behindTHEmask]

It's okay, I figured out the title of the book, sorta.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower or something. My friend wasn't sure.

Oh well, worth a shot.