Broken glass
from a car window
dresses a curbed Christmas tree
the holidays have ended.

“I don’t care
if I never get a job
and live alone with my moms
for the rest of my life
I’m not gonna read
today,”
stamping his little 6^th grade foot.

Guilt tripping it seems
creates a comic scene
but seeing as
scar tissue amasses
when wounds go
untreated
we must take this seriously
sit down and discuss
your commitment
to your group.

Soon we’re reading
plowing through zombi-like sentence after sentence
recitation when someone steps up to say,
“What does civilization mean?”

“Like civil war?”

“Like civil rights”
associations abound
in your budding minds
and you agree
it means a place
where people agree to be
together
somehow.