A Kindle of Kindness

Did you have a face

or was that a blur as well?

Did you have bird knees

or were they only your favorite?

Were you or did you?

You had your platform with your mike you spoke cheerfully into

the flood of tired kids with closed ears

was a cycle VI times per day;

V times per week.

I tried to listen,

I stretched my ears open

but eyelids were far too heavy for my

already weighted soul.

I kept trying

for you?

I kept trying

thinking that it would never reward

me reimbursement I spend XII years longing for.

'till it did with words I wish to never end

a sentence without end

words without cliffs-

because you thought

I had something-

A kindling too dimmed.

I thank you for asking not assuming the best of me;

that I am both not enough but enough to be okay.

You asked the questions that lacked answers for my tongue to spew.

and I thank you for giving me strength

Something to hold onto without weakening.

Failure is a future without your words-

I have succeeded for 

III years

because of you.

I thank you for 

all the fires you threw at me-

all the smiles that burned me into smithereens.

all the fuel you brought by your own dime

and notes made by your own hand

a carefully crafted message that haunts me 

forever. 

A ticking clock

without tempus to tell.

Never let it end, please?

Are you okay? I've notice you have been falling asleep in class lately.

Rage was a boiling pot of chicken soup that I couldn't even force myself to eat.

It was consuming-

it drained any oxygen from my withered lungs and failing organs.

Running to a bathroom was an act I promised I would never do-

so I looked down as tears fell onto education filled halls then into

the titles restroom stalls surround.

Fury rose within the parameters I set with carefully planned numbers

and percentages only set to 100

Was I not careful enough? How dare she know?

Going back to class shoved the knife deeper

till the blood became bone.

All

that 

was

left

was

your XIII words

and my CCV bones

(+ the xiphoid process)