(2o/3o)
north of the fence
that i threw a strangers glove over.
they stood around us in a circle. my foe and me.
circle. a shape still new to us.
i tried to find a way out but the circle rendered unbreakable.
pushed down and flailing.
set back up in a fight. ya gotta make some enemies to make a crowd happy, kiddo.
when a bigger kid tells you to swing he doesn't mean the set of seats.
i had a k under me and i was in the first.
i turned to face my rival. turned around. denied exit from the circle as well. older boys bent on seeing younger souls battle.
my fist. small and doughy.
holding all the fury of a declawed kitten paw.
5 swats it took. exchanged and blood came out of both sides of our noses.
a combo color or smuckers and snot.
a lady built like a line backer giant was the next thing i saw. first i felt. the talon grasp of a post-menapausal monster.
god like grip on the inside of my panda arm.
no one had taught me that crying after a fight was a sign of weakness.
so tears fell out of me like honey in a tree in the hundred acre woods.
the linebacker lady took me to the teacher.
words harsh and far from harmonic cutting jagged like constuction paper.
"you are nothing but trouble."
i was in first grade. a lonely k under my belt and already summed up.
it was my first visit to the door. left of the lost and found box.
principal's office.
a sub-zero dragon perched and hissed in the corner. named a/c.
breathing down on my foe and me.
my foe and i.
sat across. mirror images of different younger souls.
pushed to throw punches we didn't know how to make.
insults we had yet to learn to form properly.
eyes runny and fire engine red.
we sat like mirror images.
i remember that Jason Rambo and i first went to shake hands.
one of us used the wrong hand. and we mirrored when we laughed at it.
bruised like peaches.
i learned to forgive. i learned how easy it is to lose your footing when pushed.
i learned how little i understand to take something when pushed to violence.
i learned that my speech can run like lava over my sentences when i use the word "hate". destroying and only leaving itself in the wake.
well...i should say i started learning that day. as i assume as much of other people.
I'm still learning. from a lesson in primary school.
