slam etc.

1
I pretended it wasn’t embarrassing:
First day of school.
Those teachers
With all their
Neat,
Clean,
Spankin’ new seating charts
And me there to mess ‘em up.
Me,
Kathy W.,
Nearsighted,
Myopic,
Supposed to sit in the back of the room.
With the other T-U-V-W-X-Y-Zs.
(squint)
Couldn’t see the board from there.
Had to sit up front
Like Larry A.
And Donna B.
Those teachers
Would have to cross out names;
Write new ones.
Me and Larry hafta change places.
Why couldn't I have a front of the dictionary name?
When I grew up
I was going to marry an aardvark.
Kathi Aardvark.
Wouldn’t that be cool?
And less complicated.
First day of school
Woulda been a lot less bother
For all those teachers
...Without Kathi W.

2
And what if Mr. Aardvark did come along?
Prob’ly wouldn’t marry me anyway.
Not Kathi W.
Blind bat,
Cooties, you know.
Last picked for every team.
I never cried;
Never showed the hurt inside
When I made it to the top of the list,
Of “5 Most Ugliest Girls in Seventh Grade.”
Or when George C. invented the Kathi W. doll.
You know the one:
Wind it up and it walks into a wall.
Committees?
The worst.
Everybody wanted
To be partners,
Work in groups,
Collaborate,
...But not with Kathy W.
I should’ve just melted away.
Let them work together
And be friends
...Without Kathy W.

3
I wanted to not be in school.
My own neighborhood;
Now there was a better place.
Where a bunch of us kids
Had grown up together.
Always just had fun together.
Where some of these same kids from school
Also lived.
These kids
Who couldn’t afford
To let it be known at school
That they even knew Kathi W.;
But who, when they returned to the neighborhood,
Could return to themselves
And be OK with Kathy W.
And play Red Light, Green Light
And Hide and Go Seek
And be friends...
...Friends with Kathy W.
...Friends with ME!