By Allison Parssi

The first thing to go was my music
All my music, gone
And all for a book
It was pretty stupid.

I know I overreacted
A little bit was because I didn’t want here to read it
But mostly it was because she didn’t ask
She took something from my room without asking.

My friends even ask if they can look at my books
Even just to flip through them
My sister, though, waltzes in and takes a book
A book that I paid for and has my name in it.

Again, I overreacted
I was possessed by a monster
A monster that didn’t want to discuss it calmly
But one that wanted to go to her room and be left alone.

Because of that stupid monster
I’m grounded
G-R-O-U-N-D-E-D
Grounded for a month.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been grounded
This is the first time I’ve really been grounded
The first two times, they took things away I could live without
But this time, they took away the one thing I can’t live without
My music.

Once that was gone
The whole book thing
Seemed pretty stupid and selfish
Actually, it was stupid and selfish
After the fiasco, I gave the book back for my sister to read

Now I’m here
With a finished poem
To get back my life, my music
All because I overreacted.