Don’t Call Me A Robot

I am a whiz with numbers,
but my head is filled
with thoughts and feelings,
not gears and calculations.
I’m serious. Don’t laugh at me.

I am not a robot.

I never fail a test,
but it’s not funny when you pretend
there are buttons on my back
that you can push
and shout, “Beep!”

I am not a robot.

Robots don’t get angry
when their friends
say something mean. But I do
because I am a regular kid
who is good at math.

And I am not a robot.

Laura Shovan is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and a middle grade novelist. Among her award-winning children’s books are The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts.