The atrocity of being shut out

feels like the burning wind in my asthma lungs.

When I’m playing tag in the third grade and the bully boy asks me if asthma is contagious

That’s what it feels like to be shut out

That my nature is inconvenient and

My peers have fear of catching me

(although I’m doing the chasing)

In either place, I won’t open my mouth

Even if it’s the only way I can breathe

 

@ angel rosen