Long Nights at My Kitchen Table

It's a pain in my eyes,

It's a pain in my hand,
It's a pain of a pain
And now I understand...
Since when is negative three plus six equal to nine? (I'll just pretend that didn't happen.)

Divide six and two,

Add ten to three,
Take a really quick break and then...
Why is everyone looking at me?! Don't you back away; you would crack too if your homework were this
hard. Now, do we have any licorice left?

Come on, everybody! Let's play a game.

It's called Why Do These Problems Look the Same>
Do you know how to play? I bet you do.
Do you want to know why? Because you're in my class, too!

Now it's midnight and I have school tomorrow

And if I can't finish my homework, I'll probably just drown my sorrow in mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I have dreams of going to
UC Santa Barbara to complete a major in sociology

But that dream won't come true

If I fail, or worse, forget to do
This work.
And I've done both before -- it did look good on my transcript.

However, it's not over until the fat lady sings.

And I can't sing professionally so my phone will play the aria from "Carmen"e
Now it all boils down to this
I can't forget and I can't miss
Anything.

Wish me luck!

---Caitlin Beck
2nd-place winner