Squaretable Seminars

At a Zero-Tolerance School


on the whiteboard
of the boy’s varsity locker room
a death threat
is written.

The police are called, and some football player
and his sidekick own up to it.

The message is erased.

Here,
when something is wrong,
the star player still starts.

Here,
when a student changes schools,
or drops out of classes,
or hangs himself,

no one can seem to figure out
the reason why.


© Hannah Walleser