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Rated: 13+ · Poetry · Experience · #1097671
Sestina about being a lifeguard.
Lifeguard Duty

I arrived at my job with uniform
In place, anxious about working at the pool.
Not knowing what to expect, I had whistle
Ready. What I got was a bunch of screaming
Kids blatantly disregarding the rules.
It was hard to keep my concentration.

At first there was a large concentration
Of kids in the shallow end in no uniform
Pattern. I could tell none knew the rules,
For they were dunking and climbing out of the pool,
Running around and around, and screaming
Like Banshees. Fumbling for my whistle,

I blew as hard as I could. My whistle,
Of course, had no affect on the heathens' concentration.
They paid no attention to my screaming
And yelling; It was as if my uniform
Meant nothing to them--thhey came to the pool
To play, and couldn't care less about the rules.

After days and weeks of enforcing the rules,
The regulars would respond to my whistle.
Soon the pool was running as any pool
Does, but I soon lost my concentration
By sitting and thinking of men in uniform
Coming to rescue me while I'm screaming,

"Calgon, take me away!" And then screaming,
I come back to life only to point to the rules.
If that doesn't work, I point to my uniform,
Hoping I won't have to display my whistle
To prove authority. To play concentration
Is often more fun than watching the pool.

Then some kids fall and as blood begins to pool
Around their head, the parents come screaming,
And we wish they all could be sent to concentration
Camps. That shoudl be punishment for breaking the rules.
Instead we jsut let out one long whistle,
Enforcing the power that comes with the uniform.

If you come to the pool and break all the rules,
Be ready for screaming and the shrill of a whistle
From a concentration of lifeguards in uniform.
© Copyright 2006 Eliza Bennet (elizabennet at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1097671-Lifeguard-Duty