All for an assignment

They call it a computer lab

Even though the only experiments I’ve seen here

Involve voice modulations

Voice elevations

Voice de-elevations

The elevation of the voice of someone who

Gets so wrapped up in the revelation they are telling their

Friend

Buddy
Pal
Person

That their voice crosses the line

Only to be pushed back down

By a collective or singular (how dare you)

Hush
A hush push

If you will

A long long

Sheet of shushing sound

That shadows and shuts up

Both you and your assigned listener

Vocal neurons firing back and forth

Between you

In this

A fragment

Of the mosaic of interactions you will have today
With yourself and others included
But shush
I have an assignment to work on

Now where was I?
Right, the mosaic of interactions you will have

Wait till you see the final dynamic piece

Auctioned off for nothing more than your experience and

Your knowledge
And maybe a smile across your face

While everyone goes back to facing their sheets

And your assignments

But shush
I have an assignment to work on

Some of the grains of salt assigned to my fries

Clearly didn’t get the memo

Or the syllabus

Whichever comes first

Out from a place where “first”
Doesn’t have to be a competitive term

It isn’t a competition

This position’s repetition

Horse blinds us to one mission

Not mission Second
Third
Or Fourth

Just some of the positions that talk about First
But not First
First never talks about first
You know it’s a good meal when there’s silence
At the table
Working away on your assignment

Assigned at Birth

Your first steps
Your first breath
Your first assignment

First could just mean a first this

Or that

That assignment due tomorrow

Due by bedtime

Due by the extent of your peace of mind.

But shush
I have an assignment to work on

Gotta make a good impression on the Professor

First impressions don’t last right?
Or do they?
Or do they get over shadowed

By Second
Third
Or Fourth?

A number word like first

Doesn’t have to be a statistic

Of another life taken for their own want of better grades

Or appreciation
Or validation that this one test
These one tests
Are somehow a measure of
You
Or

How happy you should be
S. A. Ts

Essay Please

But shush
I have an assignment to work on

Assign yourself some happiness
Assign yourself all of it
On the first day of chillabus week
When you’re alone
with your thoughts

Who wanted them anyway?
The grades, that is, perhaps

Now they sit at the bottom

Of a take out box

Take out box
Take out books
Take out pen
Take out calculator
Take out file
Take out frustration
Take out anger

Take out fries (of course)
From the box
Because you can’t enjoy what you don’t bring in front of yourself.

But hey,
I have an assignment to work on.