Comp & Rhetoric Students file in, slide into wooden rows, their voices ricochet off the

linoleum until a bell hammers out silence; I open my mouth, and letters tumble to then fro, an e before i, but it may yet partner with o or u; the one I want to catch the eye of , you, who wrote the lyrical, rhyming rap about your bro, your biological one, doing time in a place that isnt juvenile; it was the first and only occasion you transformed thought into written word, imparted meaning I could mark with an A or B or C the only language given to me.