"I was fourteen" - 4/3/2018

"I was fourteen."

I missed the bus again.

I woke up late –

it wasn’t my fault –

my alarm didn’t go off.

And Dad doesn’t wake

me up anymore.

I stand waiting for it to

come back for me

(I called my brother

from the house phone).

Cars run over a bump

in the road

– clink clunk –

it is a black bump.

Part of the road,

perhaps.

Looking closer at the bump,

now I see a foot in it,

stained glass shell,

a helmet of a head.

A turtle.

The bus turns down my street

finally and it hits the turtle

as it screech-stops in front of me –

clink clunk.

Why are you crying?

It wasn’t my fault.