Teen Poetry Contest Winner for 1999
Jessie Herbach
Niles North High School, Grade 10

Eraser Marks

I erase you like a bad poem,
your lies still poking away in my memory.
How long 'til the bell rings,
and we are both carried out in a sea of faces? 

your lies still poking away at my skin,
though your actions cease to scald me.
And we are both carried out in a sea of faces,
the stench of lead hanging heavy. 

Though your actions cease, you scald me,
I can still close my eyes and breathe you,
the stench of lead hanging heavy,
graffiti spray painted in my fingertips, 

and I can still close my eyes and breathe you,
(how long 'til the bell rings?)
graffiti spray painted in my fingertips.
I erase you like a bad poem.