# Origin of (angsty) Poem in "the perks of being a wallflower" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368 "2004-07-16T03:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PoignantSod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@PoignantSod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoignantSod)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368/1 "2004-07-16T03:25:25Z")
In Stephen Chbosky’s book, “the perks of being a wallflower,” he lists the following poem. When asked about where it came from, one of the characters answered that he had heard it was some kid’s suicide note. I used Altavista’s date search, and there aren’t any versions of this poem on the internet before the book was published (leading me to think Chbosky made it himself), but it was also almost a year after before the first website printed it. Do any of you know anything about this? Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines he wrote a poem And he called it “Chops” because that was the name of his dog And that’s what it was all about And his teacher gave him an A and a gold star And his mother hung it on the kitchen door and read it to his aunts That was the year that Father Tracy took all the kids to the zoo And he let them sing on the bus And his little sister was born with tiny toenails and no hair And his mother and father kissed a lot And the girl around the corner sent him a valentine signed with a row of X’s and he had to ask his father what the X’s meant And his father always tucked him in bed at night And was always there to do it Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines he wrote a poem And he called it “Autumn” because that aws the name of the season And that’s what it was all about And his teacher gave him an A and asked him to write more clearly And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because of its new paint And the kids told him that Father Tracy smoked cigars And left butts on the pews And sometimes they would burn holes That was the year his sister got glasses with thick lenses and black frames And the girl around the corner laughed when he asked her to go see Santa Claus And the kids told him why his mother and father kissed a lot And his father never tucked him in bed at night And his father got mad when he cried for him to do it. Once on a paper torn from his notebook he wrote a poem And he called it “Innocence: A Question” because that was the question about his girl And that’s what it was all about And his professor gave him an A and a strange steady look And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because he never showed her That was the year that Father Tracy died And he forgot how the end of the Apostle’s Creed went And he caught his sister making out on the back porch And his mother and father never kissed or even talked And the girl around the corner wore too much makeup That made him cough when he kissed her but he kissed her anyway because that was the thing to do And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed his father snoring soundly That’s why on the back of a brown paper bag he tried another poem And he called it “Absolutely Nothing” Because that’s what it was really all about And he gave himself an A and a slash on each damned wrist And he hung it on the bathroom door because this time he didn’t think he could reach the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368/2 "2004-07-16T07:11:25Z")
I don’t have the book with me right now. Did you try the copyright page? If he borrowed anything from anyone else, I would think he would say so there. ---
**Author:** ![Wallflower19912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@Wallflower19912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallflower19912)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368/3 "2012-10-30T09:10:17Z")
I believe he mentions it on the acknowledgements page: “And finally… Dr. Earl Reum for writing a beautiful poem and Patrick Comeaux for remembering it wrong when he was 14.” I think that this is the poem he’s talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368/4 "2012-10-30T10:47:04Z")
Phew! Lucky this wasn’t a “Need Answer Fast!” thread! ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-angsty-poem-in-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/255368/5 "2014-04-05T18:19:43Z")
Although the poem did not make it into the movie version of “Perks of a Being a Wallflower”, apparently it is in a deleted scene - with further explanation in the commentary track > [@The Internet](#): > > I watched/listened to Chbosky’s commentary on the DVD of Perks and he explains that he had to hunt down who wrote the poem in order to publish it in his novel because he didn’t know who wrote it since he heard it when he was younger. His search led him to Dr. Reum who he spoke to about the poem. Dr. Reum explained that he wrote it and was a teacher who used it for his students and suicide awareness. (from [a goodreads discussion](http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1035166-the-poem-what-did-it-mean-to-charlie)) I think this is the original version: **A person, a paper, a promise** - Earl Reum Once on yellow sheet of paper with green lines, he wrote a poem and he called it “Spot” because that was the name of his dog and that’s what it was all about and his teacher gave him an “A” and a big gold star and his mother hung it on the kitchen cupboard and showed it to his aunt and that was the year his sister was born-and his parents kissed all the time and the little girl around the corner sent him a postcard with a row of X’s on it and his father tucked him into bed at night and was always there. Then on a white sheet of paper with blue lines, he wrote another poem and he called it “Autumn” because that was the time of year and that’s what it was all about and his teacher gave him an “A” and told him to write more clearly and his mother told him not to hang it on the kitchen cupboard because it left marks and that was the year his sister got glasses and his parents never kissed anymore and the little girl around the corner laughed when he fell down with his bike and his father didn’t tuck him in at night. So, on another piece of paper torn from a notebook he wrote another poem and he called it “Absolutely Nothing” Because that’s what it was all about and his teach gave him an “A” and a hard searching look and he didn’t show it to his mother and that was the year he caught his sister necking on the back porch and the little girl around the corner wore too much make-up so that he laughed when he kissed her but he kissed her anyway and he tucked himself in bed at three AM with his father snoring loudly in the next room Finally, on the inside of a matchbook he wrote another poem and he called it “?” because that’s what it was all about And he gave himself an “A” and a slash on each wrist and hung it on the bathroom mirror Because he couldn’t make it to the kitchen. (also from [goodreads](http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1707042.Earl_Reum)) A [blog post](http://reumors.typepad.com/reumors/2012/10/poem-from-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower.html) from someone who knew Dr. Reum has further infomration (and quotes the book version) > [@Genel](#): > > Mary Reum tells me they referred to it as The Yellow Paper, but it is now popularly known as A Person, A Paper, A Promise. Earl wrote so many things, but Mary believes he wrote this after a student committed suicide during his early years of teaching. He was very affected by the student’s death and incorporated this in a lesson for other students. You know Earl. If someone liked something he wrote, and wanted a copy, he would see that they got it. Therefore it took some investigation before it could be traced back to Earl. I don’t know if **PoignantSod** is still interested, but I am: if anyone has any further information I would sure appreciate it.