Poetry Slam!: "On Turning Ten" by Billy Collins

This poem is written in the voice of a child reflecting on the significance and sadness of turning ten years old. Read the complete text here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. psyche
    the immaterial part of a person
    something worse than any stomach ache
    or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
    a kind of measles of the spirit,
    a mumps of the psyche
  2. disfigure
    mar or spoil the appearance of
    a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.
  3. simplicity
    freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort
    You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
    but that is because you have forgotten
    the perfect simplicity of being one
  4. complexity
    the quality of being intricate and compounded
    and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
  5. invisible
    impossible or nearly impossible to see
    I could make myself invisible
    by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
  6. solemnly
    in a serious and dignified manner
    Back then it never fell so solemnly
    against the side of my tree house
  7. drain
    flow off gradually
    and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
    as it does today,
    all the dark blue speed drained out of it.
  8. universe
    everything that exists anywhere
    This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
    as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
  9. imaginary
    not based on fact; unreal
    It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
    time to turn the first big number.
  10. shine
    emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light
    It seems only yesterday I used to believe
    there was nothing under my skin but light.
    If you cut me I could shine.
    The young speaker used to believe that he literally connected to the verb "shine." This belief suggests a symbolic connection between light and happiness. Turning ten, he realizes that when he falls, blood, not light, comes out of him. What he doesn't realize yet is that as he gets older and gains experiences, even those that skin his knees, he could figuratively shine by becoming distinguished or eminent ("standing above others in quality or position").
Created on Tue Apr 21 13:59:09 EDT 2015 (updated Fri Oct 20 14:57:02 EDT 2017)

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