What was my first deliberate attempt at creative writing? (This is the topic of the week at the group Writers as Parents)

In high school, I was assigned a project putting together a portfolio of poetry with copied poems, my written analyses and reactions, and decorated with cutout pictures or drawings or whatever.  We were told we could include our own poems as well.

I wrote a sappy, rhyming poem about a teenage girl attending her true love's funeral after she broke up with him and he died tragically (before she could tell him she really loved him, of course.)  I'm not digging through all those dusty boxes to find it, but it started out, "Close by the door she came to stand, As she took his class ring from her hand..."

  Boy, did I think that was some good poetry!  Boy, did my girlfriends cry, and boy, did my boy-friends laugh.

But I was proud, I was satisfied, and I didn't care if the boys at school thought it was stupid and my parents were amused rather than moved.  I was destined for greatness as an author/poet and that piece proved it!

Back to today: Okay.  It wasn't the greatest poem in the world - but just like nearly everything else I've written, it accomplished it's purpose of keeping me from being bored and letting me express some pretty strong emotions.  By the way, I got an A+ on the portfolio, and I'm sure it was because of the tragic, romantic poem I wrote!  lol