School Day

I awake to the sound of a blaring ring An obscenely hideously early hour In darkness I struggle to wake myself I stumble to make it first to the shower The cold water like a sudden bold of energy After minutes I race out feeling falsely ready I throw on clothes and glare at the mirror The pantry is calling my name The sweet smell of cereal wafts to my nose My repast cut short by the clock's changes 7:00, time to go to school. Passing the same bland houses everyday Kids wait for the buses with sleepy faces Suddenly we're there and I'm out in the cold Sanding against a fence like prisoners Waiting to be gestured across the street We disappear through yawning doors Into a pale block and linoleum world The only thing growing here is the mold. We gather our supplies at our lockers Carefully supervised as we reach into the dark Then onto one room after another Only the faces change Lunch is a uniform chaos Rising voices, something they call food The unfriendly cafeteria ladies don't know That men march on their stomachs Here we crawl on our brains. The clock hands turn and turn Slower as the day goes on Counting the minutes teachers and students Wait for the bell to sound freedom The bell rings, blessed relief But we leave with burgeoning arms Full of papers and projects On useless facts and figures In a few years we'll never see them again. Home to relaxation, for an hour anyway Before the sister comes through the door And wants to tell me all she has to say The Xbox calls me away from my sorrows I vent my frustration on a kid Somewhere in the UK It all evens out, I'll die another day. The drums pound out my emotions Whether anger, bliss, or angst The walls vibrate with all the things That I never seem to say Out to the yard, where I dribble and shoot Then roam the woods with my dog Always there, patient and listening Mom calls me for dinner The family gathers briefly To wolf down the feast Then scattering again to our corners. The clock is winding down My eyes want to close But it is time to open the books and Fill my mind with facts I don't want To spit them back out tomorrow Onto a graded sheet of paper. My eyes start to close. Then a blaring ring again.