“
Sitting with some of the other members of the Scholastic Decathlon team, quiet, studious Martha Cox heard snatches of the lunchtime poetry. Her ears instantly pricked up.
"What's going on?" she asked, her eyes bright.
Betty Hong closed her book and leaned close. "Taylor McKessie told me all about it," she whispered. Betty told Martha about next week's poetry-reading assembly and how Taylor was trying to help half the starting basketball team locate their muse.
"That's totally fresh!" Martha cried. "Too bad I'm not in Ms Barrington's English class."
Betty made a face. "You like poetry stuff? I thought you were into maths and science."
"I like it all," Martha replied. "I love astronomy and hip-hop-"
Betty rolled her eyes. "Not hip-hop again."
"Word, girl," Martha replied. "You know I've been bustin' out kickin' rhymes for years. It helps me remember lessons, like last night's astronomy lecture."
"No," Betty said. "You didn't make up a rap to that."
"Just watch," Martha cried. Leaping out of her chair, she began to chant, freestyle:
"At the centre of our system is the molten sun,
A star that burns hot, Fahrenheit two billion and one.
But the sun, he ain't alone in the heavenly sphere,
He's got nine homeys in orbit, some far, some near.
Old Mercury's crowding in 'bout as close as he can,
Yo, Merc's a tiny planet who loves a tan....
Some kids around Martha heard her rap. They really got into it, jumping up from their tables to clap and dance. The beat was contagious. Martha started bustin' some moves herself. She kept the rap flowing, and more kids joined the party....
"Venus is next. She's a real hot planet,
Shrouded by clouds, hot enough to melt granite.
Earth is the third planet from the sun,
Just enough light and heat to make living fun.
Then comes Mars, a planet funky and red.
Covered with sand, the place is pretty dead.
Jupiter's huge! The largest planet of all!
Saturn's big, too, but Uranus is small.
So far away, the place is almost forgotten,
Neptune's view of Earth is pretty rotten.
And last but not least, Pluto's in a fog,
Far away and named after Mickey's home dog.
Yo, that's all the planets orbiting our sun,
But the Milky Way galaxy is far from done!"
When Martha finished her freestyle, hip-hop flow, the entire cafeteria burst into wild applause. Troy, Chad, Zeke, and Jason had been clapping and dancing, too. Now they joined in the whooping and hollering.
"Whoa," said Chad. "Martha's awesome.
”
”
Alice Alfonsi (Poetry in Motion (High School Musical: Stories from East High, #3))