just a regular guy
with no thought of moon walking
into moving traffic
his contract schedule obliged him
to cover for my break.
he came into my classroom with his quiet shuffle
(damn, wasn't he the band director?)
and sat his thin ass on the thin chair
spinning it to an exact spot
a spot he wanted
and faced the wall of windows
without looking outside
without seeing the dancing cars
or the blue sky
unfolding flowers
and cumulus clouds tapping their happy feet
northeasterly
to party the night away
on the Lower East Side
with Patsy and the Nighthawks.
he placed his grey laptop on his lap
his hair was thin and short and dark
his eyes dark
his mood dark
dark, too, his shoes
tied with dark laces
his suit dark
his skeleton dark
inside crawling
across the dark mental desert searching for some holy waters.
he told me he would babysit my kids for 45 minutes.
fine. okay.
who wouldn't want a chance to play?
but before I walked away
toward the noise of the cafeteria,
Trent said goodbye
Angie said goodbye
Nick said see ya
Trent said alternative ed sucks
Trent also said it's a good thing Mr. Hollman isn't
teaching again this year
Trent said shit
Trent said when he was no longer on probation,
he'd be drinking beer on the weekend,
licking foam from the lips of girls he'd
like to fuck,
being a good student of animal behavior
Trent liked to smoke pot
and he bragged he could roll his own
with one hand,
his fingers being limber and full of fun.
after I walked out, Steven wrote a message
on yellow
lined paper-notes to himself-which he later used
to compile an incident report
he slid it into the high school Principal's inbox
his report complained about Trent and his casual display
of disrespect,
Trent's use of profanity
nor did Steven appreciate
the veiled threat, as he understood the comment,
towards another conformist regular teacher,
another regular guy,
another paid bully operating
as a part of the great American educational bully machine
Steven was sending his paper missle strike at Trent's
walled compound,
using a joy stick to bring pain.
later, I was called into the Principal's office.
what the hell was going on?
I told the Principal that Steven
was exaggerating!
that everything he said was more than
what he heard
So screw yourself Steven
You're just a regular guy,
A regular guy
still squeaking from that cold morning shower,
with your shaved American smile,
no perfect tooth misaligned
I want to puke on your shoes,
remove the fancy laces,
& shine a light on the darkness in your eyes.
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