Unsure if I should tell you what I’m feeling
for fear of you spreading my emotions to others
passing around my worries
sharing it with the rest of the class,
while I sit there, face beet red and
waiting till I get sent to the principal.
not a good enough reason to disrupt the lesson
I sit there, mute, nothing left to say because
my voice has already been taken from me
a small piece given to everyone you told
spread so thinly that I’m almost not even there
till I disappear
and the chair sits empty and he forgets why he called me in
I open my mouth to remind him
he looks right through me and calls in the next victim
I try to scream but I can’t even
hear myself and
before the last part of me fades away
you turn around, look me in the eyes
and wink.
Can You Keep It?
Write Then & There 