She just keeps yelling
Threatening to call his mom
Give him detention

Why can’t he be like Leslie 
She reads perfectly 
Has her homework ready

He leaves the room
Stealing the bathroom pass
Looking for his friends

He takes a book off the shelf
Told the class is doing something else 
Reaching for his phone

Forgetting it’s not there 
Comes over to remind him
Another zero and he fails

Switching his thoughts
To weapons, sex, and beats
“School’s for girls,” he thinks

Twenty minutes before the bell