In the Darkness

The sun barrages the asphalt,
brightness hazing the black and greasy
stove-top parking lot.
The heat kills the breeze -
the collage of leaves in the distance
is still.

The students swarm between a line of buses,
laughing familiarly,
leaning on instrument cases
as they knock back huge jugs of water.
They sweat in the sunshine,
bared legs shiny with moisture,
salt and asphalt grime.

The girl hunches tight to herself,
heels pressed to thighs under long navy skirt,
back against a bus,
her thin slice of darkness
slowly receding.

She balances a notebook on her knee,
tongue caught between her teeth
as she slashes a pen across the gut of the page,
making it bleed with green ink,
and the hard possibility
of coming to light.