Phys. Ed.
Between Language & Health
perched Gym or Phys. Ed.
or whatever they called our removing
what fit & changing into our clashing
school colors. My t-shirt dubbed me
YOUNG, something barkable, one
syllable. Those without uniforms
lost grades or got loans; those
with boners in the showers
got beat up. Edsel, once caught
beating off in a stall, would rub
the backs of his knees with green
deodorant, he said to keep cool—
this, long before we heard how to stop
sweating & smell, lectured in the male art
of antiperspirant while the seventh-grade
girls learned about blood
during third period. That talk
we only got wind of later.