Like any normal girl who was once far too melodramatic, I have a small collection of really, really awful poetry hiding in my closet. The rhymes are childish and the pages are covered with crappy drawings of half-dead roses and teary eyes, but I've never thrown 'em away.

My Chemical Romance's red-eye-shadow-sporting lead singer, Gerard Way, apparently kept all his prepubescent scribblings too. Instead of hiding them from the public, though, he put together a band and turned his angst toward a gothy-screamo record called Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, which has gone platinum since its release earlier this year. When not backed by a small orchestra of rock fury, MCR's lyrics hold some striking resemblances to your average adolescent poetry, which is probably why kids love them. And boy, do kids love them.

So to weed out the poseurs from MCR's true fans, I've concocted a test—My Chemical Romance songs vs. my bad poetry circa 1993. If you can tell which one is MCR, your ass belongs at their show at the Premier on Sunday, December 11.

1. (a) "They gave us two shots to the back of the head. And we're all dead now."

(b) "Maybe if I have a gun to my head you'll give me privacy, you know, 'cause everyone wants to die in peace."

2. (a) "Your face is highlighted with the white lights of Heaven, but your eyes reflect the fires of Hell."

(b) "I'm coming back from the dead. And I'll take you home with me. I'm taking back the life you stole."

3. (a) "I'm only here to see what happens next. I believe it's insanity!"

(b) "Well don't I look pretty walking down the street in the best damn dress I own?"

4. (a) "So I won't stop dying, won't stop lying/If you want I'll keep on crying."

(b) "Pieces got shattered in a semi-sweet sky/They flew around in dreams like a drunk butterfly."

Answer Key: 1. (a), from the song "I Never Told You What I Do for a Living." 2. (b), from the song "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish." 3. (b), from the song "Give 'Em Hell, Kid." 4. (a), from the song "Cemetery Drive." MEGAN SELING