Game 75

CHI 91               MIL 95

Cornered animals
Act very different
Than not-cornered animals

Man and wasp
Most often sting
From fear

Did you know that a rabbit
Being hunted
Near death
Lets out a loud
Shrill scream

Hoping to scare away the hunter

A once in a lifetime sound
Twice, if you’re lucky

My first year teaching
I had a 9th grade girl

Tiny
Stick of dynamite

Walking in late
Smacking and snarling
On the way to her desk

First kid I had to pull in the hall
For a private conversation

“Why do you even come to school?
I mean--what are you doing here?”

I thought I was so smart

“This is where I eat.”

The answer cold
Immediate
Truth

I could feel our size difference then

Me
Towering over her
Casting a cartoon shadow
Clearly Goliath

She
a coiled spring
A frog’s tongue
A poisonous dart

“Well
Shit
Sorry”

Trying to make myself small
Trying to not be seen as a predator
Trying to absorb the reality of my new life

The next few months
Before she dropped out
To give birth
To her step-father’s baby

One last piercing “Hoorah!”
From a cornered bunny

Hunted
And near death