this girl
she moves in bell-bottoms smiles walks down the sidewalk strokes the strands
of hair falling just above her breasts her crotch still burns from cheating on her
boyfriend her belly rolls over her jeans like thick syrup she doesn’t adjust her
shirt to cover it she offers one long exhalation flicks the ashes of her cigarette
away the street people watch her back arched against gravity they think that
the shape of her body is small compared to the world’s
How to play the game: Stay calm, be persistent, but also find a way in, a crack, a sliver, a baby inconsistency and start there
I place the paper boat on the water, Fingers lingering to support the transition from steady to moving And wait. She sways unsteady at first,
I walk through the drizzling leaves and make a wish on each leaf as if it were a shooting star. The wind sweeps through us
Standing in front of my students, my heart beats with the rhythm of the classroom: clock ticking in strained rotation, papers rustling through thick binder