The Great Fall:

 

I swim through a swarm of students

in the eventfully chaotic hallway.

I carry my spraypainted staircase figure

carefully.

It is my new pride and joy.

A little piece of me.

The love for poetry,

For music,

For color,

And for growth.

The staircase that symbolized

Reaching to new heights.

I carry it close to me.

I have missed track practice for this.

To finish it.

I have stayed late,

Almost missing the bus,

For this project.

I carry it through the hallway,

Only to let it be knocked down.

A careless sixth grader with a huge backpack,

She stops suddenly to talk to her friend.

She is not sorry.

She does not see the tears

That I refuse to let fall.

I run to the Makerspace,

And pretend to act like it can

Be glued back to its former glory.

I desperately clamp it with wood glue.

And when nothing happens,

I finally let the prying tears

Prick my eyes.

I sit in the bathroom,

Letting the failure sink in.

I let myself drown in it,

Slowly and quietly.

I sit in a pool of tears.

And then just slowly,

I climb up the steps

to a new idea.

By the time

I come back to class,

And let the cursed project

move to its new home

The trash can,

I am ready to make,

All over again.