Ms. Roman's 6th Grade
We’re not really friends. But maybe we should be
friends badly
When Oscar and I were outside on the front step
the two of us pulsing and breathing steps from each other
he was going to kiss me
and i don’t know why. Which I guess is good because
I will be a girl without any secrets
I’m a giant plush leather chair
across the screw
Fish was right
Chucking his fingers on the desk
Neither of us fine with this
To his left a print of
the fragile afternoon light
as he claims his first breath
Sandy follows my gaze over his shoulder to
biography your mother wrote
deserved glasses
talk out the window
white-outs claim to fame disappear
some people fog spirits the dead
If someone opened my closet
they’d want to be friends
without realizing it
I cross the room, part the curtains, and slide open the window
alone in the middle of the night
haywire smile
hands on the windowsill
lean out the window of the night
soft breeze in my hair
wondering if I can trust
when it happens
features from above
glow of my bedroom light
Ms. Smallwood's 6th Grade
She
decided
To be happy
Even as people recognize
Individuality we have a tendency
to think of
human traits
tendencies
strategies
constructs
personality
personality is consistent
feelings
personality
makes populations
environments
Say aloud
mouths closed
a small smile, waving my hands at my sides
it still hurt me
silence
pathetic silence
silence
that I
need