{"id":100018,"date":"2021-06-27T01:54:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-27T05:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=100018"},"modified":"2021-06-27T01:54:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T05:54:48","slug":"middle-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/middle-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Hour 9, Prompt 17, Year 2021 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s lunch break and as always<br \/>\nShe sits by herself in the empty classroom<br \/>\nShe reaches in her bag for her lunch box, then her book<br \/>\nAnd then she remembers what she promised her mother<br \/>\nShe pauses, panics a bit, then takes a deep breath<br \/>\n\u201cYou can do this,\u201d she hears her mother\u2019s voice<br \/>\nShe braces herself and exits the room<\/p>\n<p>Outside in the corridor, the students are chattering<br \/>\nEach in a group of their own<br \/>\nThe popular girls, the jocks, the math whizzes<br \/>\nA lot to choose from<br \/>\nBut simultaneously none<br \/>\nShe approaches the closest group to her<br \/>\nHoping that her courage will be rewarded with welcoming<br \/>\nInstead, she stumbles and falls<br \/>\nThe chatter around her stops<br \/>\nEveryone looks up, shocked<br \/>\nThen silence turns into laughter<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at her trip!\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWhat a klutz!\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWhere\u2019s she from anyway?\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cAnd what\u2019s up with her clothes? Tatters everywhere.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cAnd the oil in her hair? Gross!\u201d<br \/>\nChatter all around, all directed at her<br \/>\nTears stream down her face<br \/>\nHot tears in the summer heat<br \/>\nShe brushes the dirt off her knees<br \/>\nGets up, slowly, unaided<br \/>\nAnd goes right back to where she came from<\/p>\n<p>Back at her desk, she opens her book<br \/>\nAnd buries her nose deep, deeper<br \/>\nNot deep enough<br \/>\nAll she had promised her mother was to try<br \/>\nShe had tried<br \/>\nIt was done<br \/>\nFor good<br \/>\nShe was safe now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hour 9, Prompt 17, Year 2021 It\u2019s lunch break and as always She sits by herself in the empty classroom She reaches in her bag for her lunch box, then her book And then she remembers what she promised her mother She pauses, panics a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100018"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100029,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100018\/revisions\/100029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}