I Pretend by Mo O'Hara

I pretend a lot at school to make it through the hours.
Pretending is, in fact, my most impressive super power.

I pretend times table terrors aren't always attacking
Like an army marching down the page- my pencil sends them packing.

I pretend the words and letters aren't all dancing round the book
and sneaking up and thwacking me each time I have a look.

I pretend that I don't feel the little whispers and the stares.
I pretend that I'm invincible, impervious to care.

I pretend that I am 'getting it' and know just what to do.
I pretend that I fit in here, like a foot fits in a shoe.

I pretend that all my fidgeting and squeezing goes unseen.
that I turn myself invisible with my super sonic beam.

'You pretend a lot,' my teacher tells me. Drat! How does she see?
I'll up the power to my ray beam. She'll soon move on past me.

But she leans in and she smiles, 'You're an awful lot like me.'
I turn down my ray and listen, and for once try being me.



Poem © 2014 Mo O'Hara