Ups and Downs by Varun Malkani This is my voice Sivitskis said And the administration said off with head Assemblies about injustice But I still don’t see justice 7 years I walked through these hallways And I still don’t understand the ways By which they judge right from wrong You can give a speech or write a song But don’t say the two words that are his name Like Voldemort, he who must not be named Teachers in one direction, students in another Can’t wait to just get out we say to each other People used to think WA was the bomb But now no one even listens to the BOM It doesn’t matter if you’re the worst Just don’t speak out or plead the first A real world experience? What did we just experience? A public shaming of courage That filled the student body with rage As applause turned to jeers Nothing else you could hear One week left and this is how we go out Not in agreement but in shouts Just like a good dream that turns bad But no ones sad, instead people are angry At how this year turned out to be Freedom of speech a fantasy A long forgotten memory Of the way things should be The way things should be Do you remember all the laughs and cheers When Dan Lima in his pink spandex appeared, When Bobby Gordeau Made fun of Sam’s nose What Fitman thought about girls and how they pee Hockey skits, Greenman, snowday predictions with Delaney In the senior room watching trannies duke it out on Maury I bet each one of has our own funny WA story When Fouad did the truffle shuffle one fine day And hearing all the goofy stuff that people say
From the what’s up, nothing’s To the sup dude’s Ollie and his Asians, Steve and his discs A colorful cast of characters that might make WA worth the risk Do the bad memories overshadow the good or vice versa? Or do I just add them all up and take the final sum? I’ve had 7 years of both laughter and strife A long series of ups and downs But I guess that’s life Questions 1. Does the poem have effective rhythm? 2. Is the poem better read or spoken? 3. Do you agree with the speaker? 4. What does the conclusion say about life? 5. Was the reading of it well done?