Speak

When we come back

to class, we have

to finish our quiz

by reciting five helping verbs.

Except I don’t have to;

I have a note that

says it’s okay for me

to write things down.

I don’t like to speak

in front of people.

Some teachers say I won’t.

But it’s not that.

I don’t like to talk.

 

 

My father says

it’s because my mom had to go.

The doctor he takes me to

agrees with him

and thinks it may be “selective mutism.”

But I don’t have anyone

I want to talk to right now.

 

 

I’d rather spend time on Main Street

with my grandfather in his jewelry shop,

where he fixes broken things

and makes them whole again.

 

 

Sometimes I watch my father build houses.

He can hammer a nail in with one swing.

Not me. I’m kind of small,

and a little round,

and I can draw a tree faster

than I can hammer a nail,

so I stick to that.