I.
My first day of school
I cried for my mother.
Exasperated,
my teacher sent me to the principal,
who, in desperation, gave me a newspaper
that I did not yet know how to read.
II.
Emma.
She called me fat,
and teased me.
Keri.
She pretended to be my friend,
all the while bullying and trying to control me.
My biggest lesson of elementary school:
It’s not okay to be myself.
III.
The school counselor could not help me.
I was on the bottom of the cheerleaders’ pyramid.
I pretended to lose my math book
so I would miss the bus.
My popular friend
could not make me popular.
IV.
College.
Working two jobs,
going to school full time.
Breaks are for studying and homework.
I am incredulous
when my professor is incredulous
that I don’t want to tutor for her.
“It’s only an hour a week.”
I don’t even have time to eat.
V.
My BA gathers dust
and I gather dust.
I was a fool to get a diploma
in a language I already speak.
A subject that only taught me
how to write poems
about how education sucks
