Physical Education

Thirty girls aslouching by the dank and sallow wall
Clad in uniformity, they wait for Captain's call
To reaffirm their status in regard to basket-ball
And again condemn my feeble dreams of aptitude to fall.

They cluster in bi-conscious cliques of devious design
Each praying she will be the lucky first to leave the line
And when the hallowed Captain grants the honor to her kind
It stings, although I knew the name she'd call would not be mine.

And one by one the girls on every side of me alight
Their height, their speed, their status has awarded them this right
But small and round and reading, I seem not to garner sight
And so I stand alone in place and wait the silent fight.

The battle skews the moments into agonizing years
As the thought that rings around the room assaults my callused ears
The college-student Coach stands dumb, her power disappears
So I curl up within myself, and choke away the tears.

Eventually the game ensues, apologies unspoken
The ball is gone, the room is cleared of any tactile token
But I emerge once more with something new in me awoken
A knowledge of the finer ways an innocent is broken.