6:13am

...and what box will I check

which blank will I fill

and what will I fill that blank in with

when life starts throwing pebbles at my window,

progressing to rocks

because I won't get out of bed until 11am,

demanding I declare my role.

But which roll's whole will I occupy

while rising in a convection oven,

pressure pushing from all points,

expanding from the inside out

by stealing exponents from the air,

outside going in,

my outsides are going in,

concave,

convex,

tic-tac-toe,

three x's,

three o's,

like kisses and hugs

so you'll grow up to be loved,

riding upside down on merry-go-rounds,

'turned on its head'

is this what they always meant?

I never knew

but pretended i did

because, come on, really, you don't know

what a hanging gerund is!?

only anyone who is going to be

anybody (i.e. a good grown-up) knows

what a hanging gerund is.

(Secret: I have no clue what a hanging gerund is)

Who'd have believed those grueling

grammar lessons were real life,

our sophomoric teachers weren't lying

when they scared us into memorizing

trivial information with the warning,

"You're going to need to know this in the real world".

Mrs. Miyomoto: News flash, bitch: I never once was required to write a paper strictly in cursive once I got to high school, not a single instructor forced us to craft lengthy lines of connected penmanship. Nope. they blew their poisonous biproducts into the atmosphere of my disappointed adolescent face when I asked, "Would you like us to print this paper, or curly cue our what through a cute amount of pages?"

"Do you not have access to a computer?" they asked. "Come see me after class..."

Thanks a lot for nothing.

Can't wait to see what kinds of things

college has set up for me,

situations I have been taught were going to be this way,

but are actually that way,

and will employers laugh at me?

or will they just hand me a pink slip

and tell me to go to the principal's office?

doubtful.

Full of doubt.

That's what life is from here on out.

Or so I'm told.

Are you lying to me too?

Dooner: water is a polar molecule.

Don't worry - I will never forget that.

Childs: it is a beautiful day. Don't let it get away.