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Learning to Drive (Free verse) by jessicazee
Our Driverâs Ed class was private, the sign under Shear
Genius Hair Studio, a shanty behind Taco Bell
on Lathrop Avenue where Ryan King caulked a Lite
can to my dadâs T-topped Grand Prix bumper
and we met twice a week. We were fifteen and a half,
heavily eyelinered, one of us
still a virgin. Teriâs ex-boyfriend
Shane shot himself after our first drive,
he was on the phone with B.B. when he did it,
I heard from Misti at Pinocchioâs the same night.
We thought she was joking, she laughed, said
Shane is dead! Shane Peterson killed himself!
We cried for her shock, she couldnât work anymore.
Our next class was a quiz, heads on desks,
our first funeral just over. There was a line
around the block to pay respect, at school
confused graffiti on lockers, flowers
in bathroom stalls, we learned how to drive that month
on boulevards, backing up, grinding gears.
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