Today, our bartender. Her prompt for us is: the first day of school. Not only the “first” day but when it begins for the new school year. Many of us are long out of school but we have children or grandchildren beginning the school ordeal. I hated school – truly. To me, there was nothing exciting or enjoyable about that first – or any – day of school. The only day I liked was the last day!!!! Come join us at the Pub today to share tales and hear about school from others. Please tell your friends! I think most of us will definitely identify with the offerings posted. And better yet, add your own poem about the first day of school. We are a friendly and diverse poetic community. The Mr. Linky to add your poem is good for 36 hours. So please, come and join us and get in on the conversation as well.
Black Skull Day
on the date on the calendar
marked with a black crayon skull,
freedom ends
boredom begins.
on the seasonal path
summer and autumn meet –
summer going and autumn coming,
warm morning sun
chilly morning dew.
freedom ends,
boredom begins.
school begins –
individuality ends.
kanzen sakura 
Aug 18, 2015 @ 14:34:42
Psst.. Gabriella is not the guest bartender but a regular.. I will link this up for you.
Skickat från min iPad
> 18 aug 2015 kl. 20:01 skrev kanzen sakura : > > >
Aug 18, 2015 @ 14:49:37
I meant host. Oh my word what a faus pas. I have updated my post so it does not read “guest”. Gabriella is very much our regular team member! Thank you Bjorn. This just confirms I need a keeper on a regular basis.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 14:36:41
I felt the same thing the first years but started to enjoy it after a while.. But I had to get to university before I fell in love with education.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 14:54:01
I felt that way until I was in the 10th grade. My parents put me into a private school and I had the great fortune of being put into the Honors level classes which gave us some credits toward university. I found a new love in sciences and mathematics and thanks to a very handsome teacher in the 10th grade, a renewed love of literature and reading and writing poetry. He became a true friend and mentor and is the one who vouched for me and made sure I was entered into a several years study course of haiku, Japanese culture and language, and other Japanese poetic forms. If it had not been for him, I don’t think I would have cared much for going further in formal education.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:10:02
Though I loved school and still love learning, I can so related to the whole sadness of leaving summer and freedom behind. I’m not sure we would appreciate those blissful summers as much if we didn’t have the opposite to highlight them for us.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:19:39
This is true. I loved and still love learning an am insatiably curious. What I hated were the cookie cutter lessons and the group activity mentality. The bullying and elitism, the popular vs. the nobodies. It was a great relief when my parents finally enrolled me in a private Friends school.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:26:21
oy – even black skull day… i know that some of my classmates felt the same
for me though school was a door to worlds i had not seen before – so most of the time i was excited to be able to go to school and learn the different things
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:44:06
I hated school until I was placed in a private school when I was in middle school. That was when this insatiably curious child truly fell in love with formal education. When I began again to feel free to read and write poetry. Too many times, American punlic school is cookie cutter lessons, blending in into an homogenized group – the elite popular crowd vs. the nobodies. It was torture.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:40:24
The title is very intriguing and leads us into your poem. I am glad to say I enjoyed school and learning and when things were slow I would just discreetly read other pages in the textbook. I also liked to talk with others. I also liked the fact that the days were still rather long and warm, which meant more enjoyable breaks and nice walks back from school.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:48:51
I got into trouble for reading “ahead” in a book or punished for the discrete reading. I frequently had reported I did not mix well with others, read too much, and showed a tendancy to daydream. I was a loner and punished for it. Public school was torture.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:53:58
I am thankful my own school was more understanding of different and quicker learning styles. When I was four, I was put one year ahead. I think it helped.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 16:08:42
That always helps. I was put into private school in 10th grade and then put in the honors level classes.. such a relief. Always so very curious and eager to learn! I still was not social but wasn’t punished for it. Most of my classmates, like me, were concentrating on learning and obtaining a few credits toward university. I bloomed and looked forward to the beginning of the academic year after that.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:53:01
Considering my checkered school days in multiple schools, still, oddly, I loved it, every single moment; the studying, learning, the competitions, the socialization, the growth, the stimulation. I returned to college three times. I would have loved to become a professional student; was always top of my class; just saying.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 16:19:58
I hated public school and did not play well with others. The torture everday I hardly considered learning. When I was put into private school at a later time and put into the honors classes, I loved it. My home life was wonderful so school was not thevescape to me that it may have been to others. Private scool I enjoyed muchly and soaked up the lessons like an unsoakable sponge. I didn’t care to compete but was state Latin and mythology champion for several years. I was placed in the higher honors classes and loved the academics. Valedictorian of my graduating class. Have gone back to university after I graduated for different classes because I loved it. As an engineer I had to have continuing education and always took university courses instead of the short professional courses. But up until 10th grade, it was like being in hell. I was too rebellious to blend. Still don’t play that well with others. Still a loner.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 15:55:35
Awww, poor you – the repetition of ‘freedom ends/ boredom begins’ shows you still feel strongly about it even now! It is all about the teachers – and some classmates too – the first impressions often set us up for life, unless we are lucky enough to find an escape, like you did later on.
I was often bored and fidgety, but luckily I was allowed to ‘read ahead’ and soon finished all the books in our class and was sent to the school library – heaven!
Aug 18, 2015 @ 16:10:37
I was punished for reading ahead! But the librarian was a friend and steered me to books more on my level than that of my classmates.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 17:20:07
Black Skull Day really sounds pretty bleak. Sorry you had such feelings in elementary school, but glad that as you moved into high school you found an academic niche that was more satisfying and rewarding. As a teacher, I had some very smart kids in my class who I allowed to read fiction / non-fiction while the rest of the class discussed something that I KNOW they already knew. No other kids in the class commented on this, as I think the rest of the class also knew the reason for extra privileges. Some teachers DO understand these things really. Unfortunately, not all. But, ha, even though I did not mind school I really enjoyed summer much more!
Aug 18, 2015 @ 18:45:57
I was always happy during holidays and summer vacation. I am glad those kids had a flexible understanding teacher. I would have kept a corner of your desk supplied with seasonal garden flowers!
Aug 18, 2015 @ 19:18:14
What a sad commentary on your school days. I, personally, loved school up through the 7th grade. I hated high school, but it wasn’t the boredom that was the problem. Anyway, I love how you always encourage people to head over to dVerse and check out the other poems. 🙂 Peace, Linda
Aug 18, 2015 @ 19:25:57
Well, you all do a great job and I want people to know that! Ihated school until the 10th grade. I enjoyed university and took classes after I fraduated. I wasn’t into tge social but into the academic aspects.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 19:18:58
I can so relate. I felt this way when my kids went back to school! Well done~
Aug 18, 2015 @ 19:26:59
I hope they enjoyed elementary and middle more than I!
Aug 18, 2015 @ 20:10:29
This so captures my school life. I hated school until I hit business and economics in Grade 12. As I became older, I became more curious and wanted to know everything. Too bad I wasted my youth. Your capture is fantastic. ❤ ❤ ❤
Aug 18, 2015 @ 20:14:28
Thank you! Glad to see you made it home safe and sound. I’ll email you.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 08:34:03
Good to be home.
Me will too. ❤ ❤ ❤
Aug 18, 2015 @ 21:04:25
School can be tough for some kids. I had to smile at the black skull and crossbones.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 21:32:30
It was put on the calendar as soon as I found out the date school was back in session. Firsst day of school, the calendar was adorned with x’s marking off the days to when school adjourned.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 21:32:43
I know about losing that individuality, its all about conforming and following rules ~ For some smart kids, school can be very boring & frustrating ~ It takes a special kind of teacher to nurse that creativity and enthusiasm back ~
The title is very interesting too ~
Aug 18, 2015 @ 21:34:47
When I found out the last day, it was circled in red and had a huge smile drawn. The days to that day were counted down with X’s crossing out a finished day.
Aug 18, 2015 @ 23:11:38
I am so sorry to read that another poet hated school. I could almost hear your heavy, youthful, exasperated sigh! Did I?
Aug 18, 2015 @ 23:50:53
I enjoyed your lines…though I had been to different schools in my own country and in other as well my experience was not bad…we had fun and lots of friends…but now as a teacher I also love holidays…
Aug 18, 2015 @ 23:54:59
It was not until later in my school life I began to enjoy learning.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 01:06:16
Ah.. me.. not smart enough to feel what school is doing
to me.. why Summer feels so much better
than school.. year.. of what
really counts in emotional..
physical.. existential
and in general
Human 101
Social
Intelligence
to move connect
and create life once again..:)
Aug 19, 2015 @ 05:59:21
I relate to this in regard to particular classrooms or teachers I didn’t like but most days I looked forward to school..how difficult for you to deal with that for so long!
Aug 19, 2015 @ 06:50:42
It was torture. But it all worked out well.
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Aug 19, 2015 @ 06:07:31
I loved school and couldn’t wait for it to start. As a mother, it was always so sad that my children would no longer be home during the day. Now school starting means no more laughter during the day as all the children in the neighborhood will be sitting at their desks instead of running around laughing and playing.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 06:49:56
This an interesting perspective. Most people were glad their kids were going back to school.
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Aug 19, 2015 @ 07:22:06
I used to mark calendars too – specially when I was in boarding school and waited for vacations to become but does individuality ends or shapes up?
Aug 19, 2015 @ 11:31:22
In my case, individuality was attempted to end but being stubborn and rebellious, it just grew stronger.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 13:12:58
Some teachers can make all the difference….. 🙂
Aug 19, 2015 @ 13:13:48
Yes, they do.
Aug 20, 2015 @ 00:05:56
Wow, why didn’t I think of a black skull?!! The last line really got me. Individualism was never promoted in my school days….you just had to look at the structured artwork on the walls….very sad.
Aug 20, 2015 @ 00:09:20
Yes it was. It’s hard for people to understand all the little cookie cutter cookies they wanted us to be.
Aug 20, 2015 @ 01:03:08
And I was a strange imaginative kid.
Aug 27, 2015 @ 07:45:19
I really loved school as a kid, and actually still do. I still think of Labour Day as “New Year’s” and I make a point of taking at least one class of something new every year.
… but the last line of your poem really resonated with me. I saw this when my boys were growing up. School does seem to crush out individualistic behaviours and stream everyone into one common denominator. The outliers fall to the side.
Aug 27, 2015 @ 09:29:28
This felt like lead in my heart, Kanzen…you certainly evoke the heaviness of dread, the inability of the soul to breathe through this strong work…especially love the stunning and true image of black skull drawn in crayon :). Kidos, my friend. xxo
Aug 27, 2015 @ 15:33:14
Speaking of new digs, I hope you are doing well in yours. Part of the revamping includes being not so very busy to tske time to show my friends my love for their work. ♡♡♡♡