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
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