My scarecrow has a shadow so she can
scare away my feelings of being alone.
My scarecrow has a trap of knives and electrical strings
for a spine so she can scare away Old Man
Scratch. She has snakes for hair like
Medusa to scare away eight-legged arachnids.
My scarecrow has vampire teeth to scare away
my dolls that like to try to kill me. She has a glittery
eye to scare away the ugly cockroaches.
My scarecrow has a burning candle for a heart
to scare away the creepy bathrooms. My scarecrow
has an invisible neck to scare devils and spirits and skeletons.
I put my scarecrow on a necklace and earrings
and all types of jewelry and all over my room
so she scares away all of my horrible, terrible,
creepy, crawly, spooky dreams.
By Asinah, 3rd Grade
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Christian Miller, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston.
This poem is featured as part of the 2013 A Poem a Day campaign, a National Poetry Month celebration by Writers in the Schools (WITS) that features a different poem by a WITS student every day during April. Click here to learn more.
Special thanks to Susan Phillips, an independent radio producer and KPFT volunteer in Houston, who recorded and produced all the poems for the WITS A Poem a Day campaign.