Different Drum Beat poem.

DIFFERENT DRUM BEAT

I couldn’t bite my fingernails,
or swallow bubble gum.
I was terrified to pick my nose.
I marched to a different drum.

The smell of grade school lunchroom food
made me lose my appetite.
Kids spread mashed potatoes on bread
and took enormous bites.

I never skipped a day of school.
Too scared of being caught.
But I “left” class in a daydream state,
didn’t listen to what was taught.

I tried to smoke a cigarette
but, I gagged and heaved and wretched.
Makeup looked all wrong on me.
Boys said, “she ain’t no catch.”

One fellow told me, “ya know, J. B.,
You ain’t no regular girl.
You don’t flirt ner nothin like that,
you’re a strange one in this world.”

I was scared of dark night dates in cars,
a wet and slobbery kiss.
But I don’t regret the way I was
and I don’t think there was much that I missed.

Janet Brice Parker