Yukon's Cherry Coke Phobia Experiment

YUKON'S CHERRY COKE PHOBIA EXPERIMENT

This poem was performed at the Poetry Slam as a burner poem. A burner poem is a performance that is used as an example for the judges, performers, and audience.

Alizabeth:

Some people think the number 13 is bad luck, 

But if I see it coming I just have to duck!

It’s not that I think a number could hurt me, 

It’s not like it might jump off the page,

But you never know if it does, I’ll have to flee. 

My friends say it’s completely irrational but 

Together one and three just scare me. 

Aspyn:

Dementophobia (Fear of Going Insane)

Through unbelieving eyes, I see the weird 

glances that flow my direction. I feel 

overwhelmed and flustered and angered. 

What are they looking at? What are they 

seeing past my forced smile? The

uneasiness that shows at the seams of my

own self being leak out and I don’t know 

who I am anymore. Are they all an 

illusion or a hallucination? Or are they 

truly there? I can’t tell real from fake 

anymore. It eventually takes over me and I 

scream, letting people know the true person 

I am. Once I stop, I look up and see everyone

staring at me. Were they not before? Was I 

seeing things? It really didn’t matter anymore, 

I had gotten far too deep into my own thoughts.

Steel:

Everyone hates you 

All the animals don’t like you 

All the other countries despise you other than ireland or scotland 

Why Because your a ginger

Gingers are deranged monsters 

Living inside of that pale skin and red hair 

All they do are bad things 

They will take your souls 

And use those souls to replace the ones that they do not have 

 to solve the problem 

We can get rid of all the gingers 

Allison:

Linonophobia

Thousands of tiny threads

Woven together to make one

Bits and pieces fraying out

Itching at the touch

Crocheted together piece by piece

Creating a net of small threads

Knotted tightly together, unable to escape

Grandma’s hand-knitted sweaters

Tighter than any grasp

It’s a cage that keeps me in

Making it so hard to breathe

The afternoon hobby has become a trap

A cage to confine me

Like a snake

It wraps around my skin

Pulling tighter and tighter 

Until I cannot breathe any longer

Ben:

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

To most, it’s just plain difficult,

Rifling through an endless library of linguistic-ridden papers.

They sigh, vexed by the daunting task of their assignment due this morrow,

In which their words and mettle shall be tested and marked.

But to others, it’s a fear above all else,

With syllables upon syllables, piling high.

Words of lengthy manner fill them with dread,

As letters add up, multiplying, until it’s too much to handle.

Sophia:

The fear of feet is a healthy fear

Just the throughout of them being near 

Wiggling toes are really gross

They make me hate feet the most 

Basically, feet really freak me out 

So please, never let your dogs out

Isaac:

Pogonophobia

The luscious follicles of gorgeous mane

Will always appeal to the wise man

But the wise man knows not of the great mane

That resides upon the chin

a rat, crested upon the face

The disgusting whiskers of man will always plague me

The horrible face that adorns such a feature will always shadow me

Like the treacherous clouds of a storm

Or the silhouette of trees, looming over me on a sunny day

No not sunny

More like the storm, of sorrow and pain

More like the river of hair and anguish

For the day is dead

Dead with the faces of rats

Jessie:

Fear of Clowns 

I walk into a circus 

Hoping no clowns are near 

Deadly little monsters

They always wanna play

So the circus is where they get their prey

I see the back of a man 

Need directions so I tap his back

Turns around blood everywhere

I see his face with clown paint all over 

I look around trying to find a place to hide 

He came towards me with a leg in his mouth 

Blood, blood, blood

Trying to run 

Find a spot to hide

Finally out of sight 

Never mind he found me 

Tonight is when I die 

Darbie:

Chromophobia

I will not turn on the light

If I do, they will find my eyes

The blue of the endless depths

The green of the strangling branches

The yellow of the blinding sun

The red of the poison apples

They swirl and surround me

Pouring into my every thought

There’s orange, there’s purple

All ripping a gash in my mind

Til all I can think

All I can do

Is simply scream

So that’s why I

turned off the lights

Kylie:

Anatidaephobia - Fear of ducks watching you

I hate the park.

I hate the pond the most

As I sit next to the glimmering waters

My chest tightens, my heartbeat quickens

Are they watching? 

The fear remains as I return home

I listen for quacks and watch my back

For orange webbed feet and oily white feathers

Are they watching? 

I feel their beady eyes,

Glittering with malice,

Piercing me through 

I bolt to escape with all I have left

But the ducks are faster

Jocelyn:

TBD

Maxine:

The fear of children, 

Being petrified of permanent runny noses, 

of the power of new running shoes

in P.E. class. 

Oh God what is that 

and why is it sticky?

The dread of tiny hand 

and missing shoes,

of mud trails 

and slip n slides. 

The fear of the words: 

Where is your little brother?

Because now one of them… 

a child can sneak up on you,

in an unwanted game of hide and go-seek. 

No, I don’t want to hold your dirty tissue,

there’s a trash can over there.

The apprehension toward the little monsters 

joyfully giggling at the card table during family gatherings,

and awkward invasive conversations in the middle of a Walmart.

Kid don’t you have parents,

where are they?

Anika:

I hate going in my grandma's garden 

It's not because of the plants

It's because of the gnomes

That make me crap my pants

The way they stare at me 

As I walk in the grass

It's like their eyes follow me 

As I pass