A what?

A Spelling Bee

1908

First ever attempt to provide evidence

The National Association of Education

Conference 

To provide evidence of thier worth.

Education had grown up

Prior it was required by the founding fathers

All kids had to attend school

Little House on the Prairie 

One room school house

Produced farmers and merchants

Few went to college

Unless their families had already gone

Mostly it was the teachers school

Nursing and typist 

In cities were needed

There were places to learn

How to do metal welding

And other pre industrial arts

Then the cities became overburdened

With immigrants from Europe 

And rural people

With little chance of learning

Beyond the Fourth grade level

Which is what newspapers 

Are printed for in order to cover

The main clients of the locality

Politics and Economics

The things of business men

Who did not get past 

The Eighth grade.

Modern era the schools 

Needed to present

Thier report cards 

At national conventions

They began to have little examples

Science projects for inventions

Mathematics competitions

And they invented the spelling bee

For those who showed signs

Of intelligence 

Why should all kids go to school

Instead of staying at home on the farms

Or going to work in the factories?

Child labor laws became an issue,

Now they have essay competitions

As well as science competitions.

Descendant 

Was one of her winning words

13 years old 

Eighth grader

The first winner 

Spelling bee held in America

The Scripps National 

Now hosts the biggest 

Competition of spellers

But in1908

Marie Bolden

Was the first to win this new 

Competition

Instead of reading off the states

Or the multiplication table

She was African American

And pretty as a picture

She went on to marry

Producing children her knew nothing

Of her accomplishment

An old newspaper clipping

Told her grandson

She was a champion

As most early winners

They go forgotten

Unless the make it into the hearts

Of the media

Perhaps she could receive 

Recognition 

Having passed High school

More than most

Do nowadays

Where the teachers 

Are afraid to correct

A mistake

Or else they will 

Pull out a gun

Even at the age of six.

Schools have changed?

It would be a long time

Before another female

Would be the winner

And longer for another african.

Meanwhile, 

I was noted for  having won

The nationals

I went to DC

To compete in front of the President

I was not yet 13

Nor was I African

But Native American

I also got a newspaper clipping

Almost everyone else used 

My little competition  

For themselves

For years 

Jimmy would show up

With the little clipping

Showing a girl

But claiming it was his win.

He told my mother 

When I was finishing high school

That he had graduated 

From Harvard

Cum laude

Wearing a Doctor Kildare

Halloween outfit

With the old lamp mirror

On his head 

Haven't' seen one of those 

In fifty years.

And in just three years

Usually it takes ten.

But not Jimmy.

Who did not spend a day

 Longer anywhere

Than was necessary.

Never finished High school either.

But a white man

With blue eyes

And a lying tongue

Always taking credit

For others accomplishments

While the ones who work hard

Are not even given

The time of day

Everywhere we went

My family was congratulated

Then the question of college came up

My parents and grandparents

Had gone to college

It was assumed I would be going

As well.

My mother had heart attacks 

Over the idea of me 

Being the one to go

Instead she had others

Go for me

None of them really

Knowing what they were doing

Almost all failing 

In the later years 

Only one or two 

Made it.

Such as Demi Moore

Who wore a store bought

Knit dress

To reperform my win.

For crocheting.

Fancy work 

Such as embroidery

Not seen anymore

The tedious hand work.

But common boring store bought.

Who was just one of the dance

Performers at bigger event

It is not that she won a dance event

But that she was selected

To be presented

As part of the newer presentation

They wanted kids to go into 

The arts.

Theater, Music, dance

The old stuff

Forgotten in effort

To promote education

Instead of vocation

Or normal understanding

Of Poetry or performances.

I had to do dance competitions.

And mathematics

Got a scholarship

For math and Science

Also there was that new ugly

An essay was added

To Qualifications 

For High School graduation

I was part of the first group.

We had been prepped

After all those book reports

And other types of writing

We had to learn a new thing

Which is all they teach nowadays

A paper on a subject

Such as a piece of artwork

Is produced in essay format.

That day when I walked in

On the first California essay

Requirement 

In the Eighth grade

Hobbies 

Was the subject matter

We had to present a draft

My choice was horse back riding

It was rejected

Not a hobby

On the clock 

I had to come up 

With an additional subject matter

Hobby, hobby

I had several crafts 

In my head 

But could not think of a hobby

Such as painting 

Crocheting

Was what I ended up

Writing about

On the clock

A new subject matter

Of something I knew

And could present 

As if I actually enjoyed it

My grandmother and her sisters

Did not knit

They crocheted

There is a difference

They were more sophisticated

Then all those plain janes

Anyways

I finished on time.

Made it through 

The other exams

To find out I was being mocked

About my choice

All the others

Had chosen sports

Such as skiing and surfing

Sports!

What was horse back riding?

Groan!

Poor little Rudolf 

And the mockery 

Then I was told I had not passed.

But I had also gotten 

The check mark 

I had completed 

All the new requirements

For High school

All I had to do was pass

Algebra.

The one where Jim 

Said  he could not spell.

A plus B equals C

He could not do the formulas

I had passed the math exam

Only to find myself presented

With one of those stupid teachers

Who attend college

But dont pass

But are allowed to work

In the field 

In an effort to provide jobs

For those unemployed

What sacrifice 

Of the kids?

Either they learn the math

Or they dont.

Our final was a check book

I complained 

What did checking 

have to do with formulas?

 I had spent hours 

Learning all those formulas

We were fourteen

What did we need to know

How to correct our checking?

Anyways

I was missing a page

It was a 12 page

Account 

Of deposits

And checks out

Ending with a final count

That was missing a quarter

25 cents 

I was off by a quarter

I only had eleven pages

I protested

It was not fair.

I lived with this through

High School

Having already gone to college

Passed all those entrance exams

Including algebra.

I also  made it through 

The Financial institutions

Training to become a bank teller

Lost that job as well.

Could not get past 

That missing page on that final.

Also heard I had not passed 

The essay exam.

But I clearly recalled

Going to the National conference

In the District of Columbia

Where three of us had presented

Our essays

And provided evidence 

We knew our subject

The skiing girl

Had her ski outfit

And skis she had never used

The surfer

Was in his swim trunks

With wows and woos

He had a good enough body

I walked out in a hand made

Crocheted outfit

A skirt and jacket

As done by my mothers aunt

Who also knitted but 

We wont discuss that

I was in the middle of an oral

Presentation

Which I had also passed

As a speaker 

Having qualified 

But forever after

Was a little bit too nervous

My mother walked on stage

And hooked my skirt

Then she stood there 

Unraveling my outfit

In front of over a thousand people!

I finally fled 

As she got to my thighs

I had a pair of jeans

The new normal

In the back which I slide 

Into as she continued

Rolling her ball of yarn

My sweater had a tank top

Under it not a camisol

I knew better than show

Up without a backup

There was the time 

I was the Brides maid

Noticed the dress was too big

But put on a slip underneath

Only to have it pulled offf

My head when I got to the front

Turned around and fled

Straight into the arms

Of the uncle of the bride

Who laughed at the slip

Returned in jeans and blouse

To wait out the proceedings

The bride had a meltdown

And that dress just got passed

Around the congregation

Finally arriving

On the person of my mother

Which is fit perfectly.

That day I simply

Went back to my oral presentation

Only to have her start in on the jacket

My buttons popped off

Before I was done reading.

The judges collected them.

Then decided upon the winner.

The boy ended  up going to Hollywood

As a singer and theater actor.

He did not make it through

He now sits in parks 

Playing a guitar 

For donations.

While the girl did make it to college.

Only to end up being a manager

Of a hotel,

Instead of a business owner

I made it through all the repetitions.

To earn a PHD in sciences.

Just when my mother 

Decide to drive off 

A cliff with a car full 

I awoke in the hospital

With a bill for my car

Hitting a submarine

Knowing I would not hear 

About this achievement

But be told to go to school

For the first time

At thirty five

I went to three graduations

For High school.

She died of brain cancer

Eighty percent 

Of her brain was gone.

Too late 

To save even 

Her own sons.

I finished a Masters of Arts

At Fifty

My buttons should be popping!