POEM STARTER
Submitted by Cassandra Elliot 🌹
Write a poem or short story that embodies the feeling of being chosen last.
Born Last
I was the last of five.
The ending. The eternal baby.
Life set me up for the last
And has spun out that way.
A name clinched it
Even in kindergarten.
Zoe Zefir. Last table.
Last desk and last in line.
The last shall be first
A total lie it seemed.
Dancing class in middle school
Lined up alphabetically,
Coupled with the last boy
Who was always shorter
Than me and instantly
Hated my tall, lanky frame.
High school? I towered
Over all those “cute” girls,
Last to be chosen for any game,
Never to know a date,
Never experience a dance,
Never attended a prom.
Last across the stage for a diploma,
The hall already cleared out.
Zoe Zefir. The girl at the back.
The giraffe, the nerd, unremarkable.
My life defined by being last.