teaching is a work of heart

I woke up and went to college because it was

Something to do and my crush might be there.

He made better grades and he only liked

White girls but maybe I would see him. I did, once,

two years in. He stared at my roommate. A brunette.

Cute as a button. They went on a date. She said he

Drove like a weirdo and his lips were too thin.

By then I was too far in to give up so I stayed.

Once they kicked me out but I had nowhere else to go

And since I hadn’t imagined any future that one

Made the most sense. So I returned.

I thought I would be a writer but it didn’t take. I

Became a teacher instead. Now I’m paid in emails

and books with black marks in them, covers missing

Parents waiting to kick my ass in parking lots.

I put safety pins in my favorite skirt so my boss

didn’t see my knee caps and I had to sign my discipline

Notice that time my shoulder peeked out. But

One time I stayed until midnight with a kid whose

Parents forgot and I earned a jeans pass to be worn

With a school shirt.

Also I get summers off. I wanted to write my

way to freedom this past summer

But I was too tired.