The PSAT

Please stay seated where you are.
You will receive instructions shortly.
Do not do anything without instruction.
Raise your pencils.
And begin.

The rush of papers flowing
Like an ocean
Of ink and parchment
Turning
Turning
Churning
My heartbeat
Throbs inside my eyes
Distorting the words
That swarm the wave of pages
Focus
Focus
You have to get this right
Which is the end
Of the beginning
Of the first
But I'm reading nonsense
Bubble this answer
Circle another
There's a wave of stress
And uncertainty
That foams from these words
On this small
Unimportant page
But it is important
Because everyone says
It's crucial to your progression
In life

Stop.
Put your pencils down.
Close your textbook.
Now you may stretch.
Stop stretching.
Return to the test.
We will begin section two now.
Pencils up.
Resume.

Oh, goodness
Numbers
Numbers and letters that
Are somehow supposed
To make sense
Does this make sense
To everyone else
Am I the only one who is lost
In this swirling
Churning sea
Of letters and numbers and testing
Focus
Focus
X times Y times something
Bubble this
Bubble that
Alpha
Beta
Is this even math
There are more letters
Than numbers
How is that supposed
To work
Panic is flooding
My veins
With electricity that is screaming
To move
The clock is ever
Ticking faster
And faster
Toward the end
But I'm not done yet
Just let me finish
I gotta get this right
If this is testing
I don't want
Any part
Of it
Help!

Time is up.
Pencils down.
The test is over.
You may turn in your textbooks and your test sheets.
And you may relax.

~ Olivia