Niner

August 01, 2020
Editorial voice. 

You never learned the tenses
But you seem to be doing all right. 

Of all the big words he seems to know 
None of them seem to suit his grand manuscript 
Which is quickly becoming a tumultuous endeavor. 

Reading books on history
You can afford to be selective,
History is such a minor thing
And besides, there are girls to play with. 

The educator has an eye for these things. 
She calls upon thee often and with malice. 
To the point that the subject is demoralized
And submits to recesses spent indoors
Away from all the little girls and their jackets. He’s a known jacket thief. 

So begins a lifelong fascination 
With first the Titanic and then the history of Australia, 
Any connections between the two?
But all the while the incident looms 
It begins with a quick foray into the junior-high locker room
A quick pick of the lock and a stolen pair of underpants. 

These are trivial matters, really,
So be it if he taunts them on the playground
Lounging beneath the swingsets
Sneaking peeks on the days they wear dresses. 
Very creepy, some may say. Others argue it healthy. 
What they don’t know is that one of them will be his wife.
He already seems to be aware. 

Some will blame his father 
For the incident. 
The truth is he never had one. 
Too busy fucking assistants on the side.
What’s a mother to do, alone with such a creepy 
Creepy boy? He does well in the school play, however. Learns 
All of his lines and owns his costume. All the 
Second grade females swoon. How quickly these things change. 

Should one be so traumatized,
Cited for not having the proper moral framework 
Just because they thought it unwise to share 
What really happened? 
On the Fourth of July the neighbor wives gather in 
The richest one’s bathroom, taking turns peeing and drinking 
White wine. The boy and girl, set to move onto the next grade now, 
Play in the sandbox in the backyard, the party happening all around them. She wants 
To give him an American kiss as bad as he wants to place one on her.