School Made Death

and it still does.

Before school

we live in gorgeous absolutes,

our play bricks

brightly painted like those days

confiscated by a dark

so unlike us:

still, silent,

feared beyond belief.

Words are smacks

and get in the way of living.

But

by the time we take exams

our diaries are full of halcyon days,

dark is the absence of light

and science cures the ills

God used to.

We used to think homework sucks

and teachers are bastards

or sad;

now we know

homework is nothing

and teachers dole out death sentences

like crazy old judges.

Suddenly we’re convicted

of something we’ve always done.