Sonnet for D.J.

You came into my class the second day
Of school. We cut short Charlotte's Web and turned
And stared.  You handed me the hall pass, gray,
But I looked in your eyes and froze, they burned.

I keep my arms inside my shirt because
I'm cold.  My eyes don't mean nothing so don't
Look.  Yeah, I flunked fourth grade last year, because
My teacher hated me.  Don't say you won't.

You sat outside our circle cross legged.
You listened, feigning boredom, figety.
Wilbur got loose--your eyes then!--when you said,
"I think that in his pen he felt more free."

What does it mean to have a broken heart?
Aren't they all?  How do you tell them apart?


9/1/12