Public Service Announcement

I had a revelation with every breath.
I’ve replaced my toes with grapes.
It was a nightmare. I was in school nude.
Infants are such babies.
The moon ate too much; it’s full.
What’s the subject matter?
I agree – the subject doesn’t matter at all.
I’ve been a bad boy.
I didn’t raise my hand to speak.
I was sent to the principal’s office.
It’s dark and full of phantoms of the punished.
The hands of ghosts over children’s eyes.
A message in the mashed potatoes.
A revelation in the relish.
I can’t climb the wall in gym.
I can’t run the mile.
They tie me up with the jumping rope.
They hang me with their shoelaces.
I’m cremated in the school’s vast ovens.
The children under their desks
With their heads between their knees.
The teacher staring out at the playground.
The blackboard with its chalk.
The blind intercom, the empty microphone.
The truant officer wandering the aisles.