The words of 1988 and a terrible poet.

“Never Fear – It’s The Words Of The Year” (two stars)
This assignment involved going to the website Merriam-Webster and entering a year of your choice. Doing so produces a list of words that were first recorded or started being used during that year. “Your challenge: Take the list from some significant year, such as the year of your birth, and build a poem from the words on the list.”
I chose 1988, the year of my birth and a year within the 80s, which gave me a really wild list of words. I then did my best to create a poem. It ended up being about a person trying to not fail school so they didn’t have to move back into their parent’s house, which is part of a cohousing community. I put the 1988 words in BOLD so they’re easy to find.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Written by Ivelisse Maddalena

I come off as an emo gansta with a hint of himbo.
My road rage is like a mosh pit inside of a  80s limo.
No stress ball works to replace my daily risperidone.
The only way to release this pressure is with a duathlon.

Trying to finish charter school, but I’m going to need an a-fib.
I can’t even make a gif out of all these damn JPEGs.
Don’t want to be a boomerang child who returns to the nest,
Channel surfing Netflix for a docuseries unlike all the rest.

Avoided cohousing cause their kitchens are a food desert.
Their gyms get you swole, but they don’t have a stair stepper.
The only available gentleman’s club near them is in an edge city
Where the girls have oppositional deficient disorder and multiple chemical sensitivity.