Here are a few more student written birthday poems inspired by Billy Collins' On Turning Ten and READ magazine!

Older
by Iman Siddiqui

The whole idea of it makes me feel
Like a rotten old banana peel
Everyday and every night
Holding on to my child-ish right
Sometimes I want to be alone
With everything silent to the bone
No matter how I feel inside
There is a hole open wide
Everything is changed
And I'm the one to blame
Sometimes the change is good
Just like it always should
Everything is crazy
Now it has become hazy
I can't take it anymore
All that knocking on my door
I'm sick and tired of all these traps
Closing on my weakened back
Older and older, day by day
No more time to go out and play
As I've matured, bigger and stronger
It will stay for longer and longer
Even if I cannot go out and play
Hopefully I'll enjoy my 13^th birthday

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Turning 13
by Christine Leong - Grade 6

The whole idea of it makes me feel
Like the shriveled old grape on 42nd street
The idea of 13 creeping up on me
Is slow but consistent
Week by week, day by day
Hour by hour, minute by, minute
second by second
It's like the lioness
About to pouce on her prey
It is like an ocean
Full of "Happy 13th Birthdays"
Swarming around me
Trying to drown me
You might wonder why?
Why are you afraid?
But, I'd simply answer
They expect so much more
They expect you to be great
They pile work on your head
'Till you can't balance any longer
Then they pile more work
And you drop like a bomb
You see, turning 13 isn't all that bad
But it's the door to independence
The door to freedom, high school
College, your job, adulthood
Being me of course,
I would never want to
Think of all this
So right now I'll just
Sit back and relax and
Concentrate on, not being 13,
But being 12.

Don't ask me why we're posting another birthday monkey picture. I don't have the answer. He just looks so happy! Oh... I guess that is answer enough.