underneath the surface

Looking out you see 23 faces

Some paying more attention than others

Some taking more thorough notes than others

Some eyes knowing, and others glazed over

Then you land on her

She gets straight D’s yet never pays attention

She writes and she plays on her phone

Yet she never pays attention

She’s infuriating and frustrating and angering

She’s being disrespectful and ruining her own grade

If only you knew

If only you could hear the chatter in her brain

The exchange of languages

Despite the lack of fluency

If only you could feel the static she feels

If only you could carry the same weight she carries

Just to keep breathing

If only you knew the bruises on her arm are self inflicted

If only you knew about the scars that cover her hip and her thigh

If only you knew about all of her baggage

It’s all about your perspective you see

To you, she’s a lazy student

But maybe, just maybe

There’s something else going on underneath the surface