I sit in my own corner of darkness
Leafing through another tongue
It gazes back at me
Like it wants me to leave them alone
And try and find another language to decipher
Michael is scribbling down answers as they dawn on His face
I watch his pencil dart from bubble to bubble
Coloring in circles
Letters nudge each other
And act like they weren't thrown together with
Another species
Act like they don't mind being pushed around with,
Confused with numbers
Xs and Ys smear into something arch-ish
I think it's called a parabola
The numbers tug at each other
Like there's not enough room in that stringy equation
Full of bouncing lines, U-turns,
Hooks that snag and streaks that slice
One and two in half
They scream
They know how I scramble just to pencil in an Answer
How I panic when a teacher speaks my name and
The room goes quiet
What I have to do just to dissect a problem
I sit in my own corner of darkness
Waiting for the bell to ring.