Detention

Baseball bats and salivating mouths

In a square room, doors locked once again

I'm alone inside a crowd

A misplaced throw, a misplaced swing

And everything unfolds

A microcosm of humanity

A microcosm of cold

The waves wash over another

Anxiety, proximity, erupting from the chemistry

Of testosterone, isolated until the first fists fly

Instincts pushed to breaking points

Surging bodies, snapping joints

Two shoes lost inside a fray

Two socks on laminated hardwood, 360 degrees into harms way

A length of lead grazed the side of my head

As others fall and others leave

And others show their vampire teeth

Two chunks from my neck, four lips that drip with skin,

Socks that slide as the blood runs down my shirt

Or over two strange chins

There is no way out of detention

Rage pushed a doorway down

Fear carried me past the last contusions hurled

At bodies on the ground

Dizzy, terrified, awake in sweaty skin,

"Mom, I'm never going back to school again"