safety patrol

I’m not sure if I ever
got
the white sash or silver
badge

and I’m not sure the office ever
worked
to make us
safer
crossing the driveway at
the edge
of
the school

but I wanted these
‘cause they
were
cool
the folk
that is
who wore them

sometimes I clapped erasers outside
into 
the air
you know
and not against the red bricks
of
the walls

but there was no cachet
in that
no creeping up the gradients
of
cool

like the rising numbers
on the hopscotch
that
I tried
sometimes
but for lack of balance
rarely
like
the cool quantity
ever won

c l couch


photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash