Reading-Riting-Rithmetic

1 November 2005
Corpus Christi, Texas

at a distance orange school bus drives by
fixed its route on black asphalt straight lined roads
rigid schedule sets budding minds carried
bound itinerary for each subject

symbols breakfast, lunch and dinner dining
forced frenzied feeding continuous day
acid reflux cogitates and digests
white paper stuff,—filled gills,—bulimia

anorexia’s vomit strewn about,—
i think i’d cut myself a thousand times
if i had to endure as mindless drone
assimilating dribble spitted source

that barely dictionary usage knows
in little fortress penitentiary
plus and minus gold stars and detention
school’s unspoken use of fear and power

strict discipline enforced adult to child
douses spontaneous outbursts of love
kills creativity that makes child’s joy
brings dull-repetitious monotony

fattens young minds for entertainment’s kill
bloats soul’s sensations for drug enhancement
creates child’s perceptions illiterate
for promised rigor and relevancy.