Finding Meaning Inside Air
Why we cry in corners
Inside the classroom, the air is descending
The clock is ticking in countdown
It’s just a drill today, the intercom blasts
LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN!
I walk briskly to the desk
Snatching up the keyboard
Looking for the key underneath
Where’s the key?
“Are we gonna die, Miss?”
“Of course not!” I snap, letting calmer air fill my calamity
Pushing the tragedy away
“You don’t have a key???”
They ask incredulously
I want to breathe up all the air in the world
A breath of prayer into my angel grandmother’s ear
One thousand and two times
I have mind-played this scene
Lock the door, shutter it with a bookcase or desks
How many desks?
I would drag them with superhuman strength
Straight across the white tiles
Shutting the mouth of rage
Outside the door
Barricade it with desks
Their plastic chairs shine the meaning
Of life itself