Congratulations to Mikayla Marinko, winner of our Teen Poet of the Trimester contest hosted by Livermore Poet Laureate Peggy Schimmelman. Mikayla was a senior in Mr. Cabisino's class at Livermore High School and president of the poetry club. According to Peggy, Mikayla's poem "Zoo" has an emphatic, emotional "spoken word" quality that expresses the frustrations many students sometimes feel about their educational environment. She has been awarded a $25 gift certificate from Pinot's Palette and a certificate of accomplishment from the City of Livermore. 

Zoo
By Mikayla Marinko

Welcome children to the zoo!
Here are your cages… 
Woah what a weird typo… 
I meant classrooms
The view might not be much, but fear not!
You’ll move around to different ones

13+ years at this zoo
And what will you learn?
Well the Pythagorean theorem of course
And don’t forget about cursive 

Oh you meant life skills?
Taxes? 
Bills?
Well we don’t have time to teach that
We have to teach about the some dead racist white guys

Why is this a zoo you may ask?
Well it’s simple 
We will schedule out your entire day
Telling you where you’ll go
Who you’ll interact with
When you’ll eat
And sometimes even when you’ll sleep
Aren’t we funny! 
Sleep is for the uneducated fools!

Think you’re done when that bell rings?
Well that’s why we tether you with mountains of homework

We put you on display 
For everyone to judge and question you
Find a pack, or don’t,
Either way you’re still going to feel alone

Watch your childhood pass by through the bars on the window 
Confined to that desk and chair 
Till they give you a cap and gown and set you off
Into the wild 
Where again you’ll have to learn 
How to unlearn your captivity 
And pay attention in this real world

But congrats! You’re free! 
Being hunted in your new environment
Where you’re nothing but a gazelle 
Surrounded by a million hungry lions.