Fraud

If they found out

they’d move me away from my friends, slide me up with those kids

who sit smug at the front

the ones with rich parents and

monthly new trainers

whose lives feel like films

where they get what they want

 

My break times would shatter into

shards of me lonely

cast off across bridges

I sent up in flames

the bonds that I’ve built

through shared

ghost dads and blankets

would snap as they all spat out

knives at my name

 

So I hide it.

Always.

Behind half hearted nods

manufactured confusion

keep a grip on my hands

I let answers grow moss in the base of my skull

as I breathe in

the taste of

the fraud

that I am.

 

Copyright: from Everything All At Once (Macmillan Children’s Books, 2018), © Steven Camden 2018, used by permission of the author and the publisher.

More about this poem

Steven’s poems bring us into the familiar world of school – but with his sharp eye for detail, as well as his talent for creating ...

Learn more
Glossary

Explore Similar Poems

Also by Steven Camden

By Tags

Close