A Miseducation

When did your training in social distancing begin?

Was it the first day of kindergarten?
The number of children overwhelms you,
and you cry most of the day.

At recess, James asks if you are a boy or a girl.
You sit stunned
and realize
it is time to leave.
(1/4)

Let the first day also be the last.
Surely no need
for further lessons.

Perhaps it is 8th grade?
Math problems become harder to answer...harder still to accept.
If six students
run for five
student council positions,
and your name is not called,
who finished last?
(2/4)

Not a question you need to ask.
If you do not isolate yourself,
your classmates
will decide for you.
This algebra of inclusion continues to mystify.

Was it 10th grade?
The excitement
of National Honor Society peppered with the fear of "faggot"
as you cross the stage.
(3/4)

This did not happen.
But the fear.

Maybe graduation?
The final moment
of their power.

You had beaten them all
in this game of school,
with its lessons in hiding,
invisibility, distance,
and safety.

Practiced over an entire miseducation.

Finally of some use.

#StayHome
(4/4)