Theme for English 9

Mr. Geib said, "Go home and write a poem tonight
Let the words just flow onto the page
Your verse will be all the rage"

I recall the events of that day.
We had a swim meet
Undefeated
Until now

It was finals
And I had never been so nervous
Could not keep still.

Stand up
Check results
Watch my teammates
Sit down
Over and over

Until it was my turn
The 200 meter freestyle
8 laps
A monster

I step unsteadily onto the block
Icy cold and fear grips my body
"Take you marks," the referee almost snarls
Beep!

Wit quick reflexes
I push off as far as I can
And plunge into the chill water

It takes a while for me to
Get my momentum going
And somehow I manage to make it
Through the first one-hundred

With every stroke I take
The pain gets worse
With every turn I make
The pain gets worse

Last lap
I push myself to give everything I had left
I fight for third with the girl next to me
Like tigers after red meat

Finally, my fingers smash into the wall
Broken maybe,
But I can't feel it anymore
Numbed by the cold and pain

I had beat her though
And claimed third for my own

My anger rose as I saw the winner
Pull herself out of the pool
Not waiting for everyone to finish
Smashing her fresh victory in our faces

After I managed to heave myself up
I was greeted by my enthusiastic teammates
They had cheered me on the whole time

The winner received no such welcome
Just sat smugly with her coach
Her team didn't care

We had a swim meet today
Undefeated until now
But in our minds
We were the rightful winners

By LS