"I won't get up/ I can't/ I won't get dressed/ I can't": Repetition & Routine Poems

“I won’t get up/ I can’t/ I won’t get dressed/ I can’t”: Repetition & Routine Poems

We explored the powerful device of Repetition in Phil Kaye’s poem of the same name. Some poems in our workshop are ‘after’ Kaye’s work.

Lesson Note: “Repetition can make magic happen-repeat a word or a phrase enough times, and it breathes new life, fresh meaning. Or repetition can strip language until all that’s left are empty rhythms and sounds. Words are funny like that.”-New York Times critic, Maya Phillips.

No Motivation

I woke up today feeling ready that summer was
here.
But it wasn’t, at least not
yet, NO MOTIVATION
I’m stuck in summer
while school is
Still,
way ahead of me
I won’t get up,
I can’t
I won’t get dressed
I can’t
why should I anyway
no motivation.

Repetition

At the start of the school day I
have the same routine for most of the year
I tiredly prepare my work for the day
And then I start my first period of the day
So fast like I was not even at home 30 minutes ago
I’m so tired I can’t even stand my first 2 periods
I’m weak, and I can’t even move my lower body
And realizing this will be my life for the next
half of the year
I think I’m ready to end this.

Untitled

In the morning at school I
get my stuff ready for the day
Do my morning classes
work-work-work-work-work
then the rest
work-work-work-work-work-work-work
then life
then what’s after
work-work-work-work-work-work-work
then
work
wait

work is never done
work-work-work-work-work-work-work
work-work-work-work-work-work-work

School

I arrive at school
A boring place. A prison
I go to class, seeing none of my friends
realizing I’ll be alone. All alone.Alone with no friends. Alone
I’m stuck here
stuck, stuck, stuck
growing tired while going back and forth from
class to class, again, again, and again
I want this to be over.