TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

The school bus stops on my block but I don’t get on.

I’ve been taking the city bus all summer

and I like the way it makes me feel

like I’m living in a different world

than the people who are supposed to be

my peers. What’s the difference?

At least on the city bus

I can pull the string,

and it makes me feel

like I’m in control.

I can get off whenever I want

wherever I want

even if my destination

is predetermined.

On the city bus I can still wonder

what the people there think about me,

whereas at school

once I walk through the door

I already know what they’re all thinking,

what they’re all going

to say

about all the versions of me they think they know,

laid alongside

all the girls I was before

in stark contrast.