MME Science: 50 minutes
pacing through a field of adolescent flowers
silk blue, green cotton, black hoodsI pass through the fragrance
of strange homes I’ve never seen
teenage perfume
government subsidized breakfast
the involuntary aromatic clothes of kids whose parents chain-smokeI am checking for number 2 pencils
faces are heavy, wilting but propped up with mostly innocent hands
groggy half-torsos curled over the array of light blue bubbles yet
to be filledFrom the back of the field, I sip my warm coffee gazing
planted on unfolded brown aluminum, carefully plotted in neat numbered rows
across cold morning tile, huddled in their coats,
little mushrooms forced to bathe in the incessant florescent light
as they pass through the Standardized Gate of GrowthThe High Stakes Testing of the Crop (with no illegal calculators)
The Numbers here determineheadlines and funding
jobs and futures
minutes and paperFinally, anxiously reverberating
throughout the room
the monotone voice“Turn to page 8, Section C
Break the seal
You may begin.”