Ms. Rinaldi taught AP Art History
and for whatever reason
Advanced Placement seemed to be
only for the white kids at my school
But there I was in my only AP class
the only black kid in the room
looking at slides of old paintings
and it was boring as fuck
Muted and dull colors
Sad and pale rich white people
doing nothing but looking sad
So I’d pull up my hoodie
and put my head down
There, behind my closed lids
I could paint me a world
that made sense
And there was that one time
Ms. Rinaldi yanked my hoodie
from off my head
If you cannot pay attention in my class
then you don’t deserve to be here
she said through clenched teeth
So I picked up my bag
and walked out
I failed the class
She failed me
