the sounds of the test

I sit down in the perfectly lined rows of old desks.

squeak, squeak, squeak.

He hands out the test, dragging his feet.

shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

We read through the test, flipping through the papers.

swish, swish, swish.

I don’t know the answers to any of this.

dumb, dumb, dumb.

I start to write the answers I know are incorrect.

wrong, wrong, wrong.

My pencil breaks; I am writing too hard.

crack, crack, crack.

The clock is counting the seconds I’m wasting

tick, tick, tick

He is drumming with his fingers.

tap, tap, tap.

The bell rings; class is over, and I am not done.

bring, bring, bring

Class is over, and all I hear is

fail, fail, fail.