Only a stupid poet . . . 
could think a poem ,
capable of capturing your beauty ! 

The honey of the beecomb , 
tastes not as sweet , 
as your blushing kisses . 

Magnificent girl , 
into the curls of your hair , 
will I swirl . 

Girl ! Here I stand , 
in your shadow , 
lightened by your glimmer . 

Purple majesty ! 
You reign over my heart , 
will you care for your property ? 

O ! Who ever had — 
in his sights — a beauty
such as you , to bless his eyes ? 

You ! What spell
have you cast over me ? 
I am yours . 

My maiden , 
how much longer will you 
make me wait , to love you ? 

Who birthed you —
Aphrodite ? Beauty ! —
will you consider my outstretched hand ? 

Chasity , for you ! 
For a face as fine as yours , 
will chaste I keep ; marry me ? 

Where are 
beauties such as you , 
made ? Surely in heaven . . . 

I thought I smelled your perfume —
in a shopping center the other day — 
but then , it was only a bundle of roses . 

Will your delicate hands —
fit into this diamond ring —
that belonged to my grandmother ? 

My heart flails its 
vulnerable side to you — 
will you reject it ? 

Be with me ! 
Be with me forever ! 
I offer my soul to you —

do you accept ? 

Oh good . That trite love poetry , 
will have successfully disguised 
this urgent plea for help . . .

By the time you are reading this , 
it may well be too late for me !

If you ‘ re reading this —
that means that my letter made it out ;
I risked everything to get this 
outside ; I only pray my captors 
don ‘ t find it first . . . 
Here ‘ s the story — I ‘ m being held 
against my will — on a farm — somewhere 
in Vermont . I can ‘ t remember where . 
This place is a living hell —
I ‘ m gnashing my teeth just 
thinking about it . Every night , they 
torture me — and they really enjoy it , 
the sickos . They get off on it — they even 
recorded it , one time ! They said they ‘ ll 
play it back for me later . . . and that I ‘ ll 
eventually grow to like it , just like they do . 
I can ‘ t think about my pride , right now , 
or about how much I ‘ ve suffered
under this roof . . . If you want the truth 
I almost wish I were dead . They ‘ ve made 
my life such a living hell — it ‘ s gruesome . 
A few hours ago , they took my friends . 
I don ‘ t know where they took them — 
or what happened to them — I only know , 
that whatever happened to them . . . 
was absolutely horrific . I ‘ m sorry —
I just teared a little bit — 
and a few tears fell on this letter . 
Please don ‘ t mind that — I can ‘ t help it . 
I can barely bring myself to finish this —
I ‘ ll try to wrap it up as soon as I can . 
Before you even finish reading this letter —
call the cops ! I need a helicopter squad 
searching for me . Make sure they have 
SWAT teams search every farm in Vermont . 
It ‘ s the only way they ‘ re ever going to find me . 
One of my captors drives a Toyota Prius , 
and the other one drives a blue minivan , 
I forget which company makes it —
guess it doesn ‘ t matter too much —
so that should help narrow down their search . 
Call the cops ! Do it ! I don ‘ t have much time left :
I can feel it . Tell them to send dog teams , too — 
who knows what we ‘ re up against . 
Now that you ‘ ve returned to the letter — 
after calling the cops — I need you to 
call all of the major news stations 
and alert them to my status . . .
as a prisoner against my will . 
Put down this letter and do it , friend ! 
Now ! And on second thoughts , 
call the cops again — maybe have them 
send in the air force to fly a few jets 
around the tri – state area — my captives 
told me that they can do a lot 
worse than I could ever imagine —
so we can ‘ t take any chances ! 
Hey , maybe you could even get 
Spiderman to come rescue me ? 
That ‘ d be cool — he ‘ s my favorite 
superhero . Could you call him up ? 
My stupid captives won ‘ t ever let me 
go see his movies , even though 
all of my friends at school are allowed 
to go see them whenever they please . 
It took all that I could do , 
to persuade them to buy me 
the recent Spiderman action figures . . .
Once I got them , I played with them 
non – stop , and for hours . I kept being 
too tired to do my homework , so my 
captives eventually took my action figures 
away — which was a few hours ago . Now , 
they ‘ ve got me holed up in the attic , 
until I have learned my lesson — 
I don ‘ t know what these sickos think 
my lesson is , but the only lessons , 
that I damn sure know anything about , 
are the ones that Mrs . Hendrickson — 
who teaches the second grade at my school ,
teaches me during class . But ! my captives 
are really sinister — that ‘ s why I stopped 
calling them my parents , and started 
calling them my captives — I don ‘ t know 
what kind of lesson these sickos have 
in mind for me , but I know it won ‘ t be 
another same old , same old multiplication 
lesson , like the kinds Mrs . Hendrickson gives . 
Those lessons are super hard — but nothing 
compares to the grief of losing my best friends —
my superman action figures — oh ! and let me 
tell you what they did to me , earlier this evening . 
My captives — they told me — the sickos — 
that they ‘ d prepared a real special supper 
for me — the sickos even said I would like it . 
Then — they had the nerve to place a plate 
in front of me , covered with sesame tofu , 
and garlic broccoli — it makes me want to 
puke , just thinking about it ! 
Aw no , I just puked all over this letter . 
I don ‘ t have another sheet of paper — 
so it ‘ ll have to do . I started wailing — 
I said I wouldn ‘ t eat it . Then they 
freaked out — being sickos , after all —
and forced me to eat the broccoli . . . 
It ‘ s difficult for me to write about !
I ‘ m sorry , I just spilled some more tears 
onto this letter . Look ! I ‘ m sensitive ! 
They can ‘ t do this to me ! It ‘ s illegal ! 
I don ‘ t know what these sickos
think that they are doing — but I learned 
about the constitution in Mrs . Hendrickson ‘ s 
class — my parents can ‘ t get away with this —
please , get Spiderman , have him rescue me —
and then he ‘ ll turn my parents over 
to the coppers , and they ‘ ll arrest these —
boogerheads ! I ‘ m kind of sleepy — I ‘ ll finish here . 
Mommie gave me some sleepy time 
milk , and it has really worn me out . 
Ugh — I loathe her — how could she 
take away my Spidermans , and 
force me to eat “ healthy ” broccoli? 
Despicable ! It isn ‘ t fair , and she ‘ ll 
find out the hard way — believe me —
when she ‘ s doing time in a federal prison . 
And don ‘ t get me started on Papa —
I realized my life was a living hell , 
when he told me that I couldn ‘ t get 
the inflatable bouncy house , that 
I wanted from the store . My life 
is so hard ! Papa may even get the 
electric chair , who knows ! He ‘ s a real 
sicko , too . Okay — I ‘ ll throw this 
out of the window , and hope 
to dearest God someone finds it — 
and sends help ! Remember :
send the helicopter search teams ! 

Yours fondly , 

Ahab Candomblé , 

Second Grade
Sargasso State Preparatory Academy