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This writing was accepted for publication in the 84 page perfect-bound issue... cc&d magazine (v204) (the January 2010 Issue) This is also available from our printer as a a $7.47 paperback book (5.5" x 8.5") perfect-bound w/ b&w pages

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Extra Credit

Colin Gilbert

When the girl who looked like sun rays fell
and twitched like an electrocuted fetus,
most of the third grade class laughed. Some
even pointed as if marveling at shooting stars,

their fingers forming a miniature firing squad.
When their lightning-eyed teacher – frantic
from lack of control – ran out of the room, time
slowed. The next minute passed like a stuttering mistake.

Each second writhed with a fullness of life known
only to overlooked grass stains and casualties of war.
The chorus of whispering giggles blended with the tap-
scratching of the young girl’s shoes to form a ghost song.
Smirks gradually metamorphosed to fright.

The classroom became a convocation hall.
Students vomited their envy of her beauty
and drank healthily of worry.

Girls discovered cutting boards in their wrists
where jealousy would grow. Boys unearthed
empty liquor stores from stomachs
that would, one day, foster lust.

As the earthquake of blonde hair and innocent
skin mellowed to a hum, the teacher shot back
into the room like bullet lead birthed from a revolver,
an emotionally-measured school nurse mimicking

a whiff of smoke. They knelt beside the child
as if on a lawn broken glass and placed bouquets
of comforting words at the girl’s tombstone face.
The firing squad transformed to a 21 gun salute.

The teacher and nurse resembled pallbearers lifting her
by arms smooth as chrome. When they walked her
from the room, the entire class again marveled at her beauty
and paid respects to the perfection they had loved to despise.

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