ABC's

C hated everyone, she went unnoticed, eating up the forgotten ones like a crocodile, her jaw hanging open,

still.

B was for the rejects, the ones who wandered around and blew on dusted walls,

The ones who peeked at their father’s shadows through blue curtains.

A was in the morning, A had the plastic cups and the conveyer belt and the cracked lunch tables.

People never saw A, for the morning. They never saw B, for the rejects. They never saw C, for the must. 

Every scared child was coaxed to 1, coaxed to plush red couches and tiled floors. 

1 was where the parents oggled at the art,

Where they nudged their children to sit up straighter

And we looked at their soft cheeks and crooked tooth smiles,

Knowing that braces hurt more than any metal wire.