I glimpse her profile
Off the glare
Of the overhead
Transparent

Cloaked by lank,  
Swinging hair

Eyes curtained
And a negative space of
Existence
Round her chair.

Forgotten  
Neglected
By the rowdy, stinging noise
Peers whose vibrant adolescent mouths blare
Out one-note identities

She is there and

Then she’s gone

And my mind
Disconnects
Mid-lecture

Squinting into the shadowed corner  
Looking for my grade-8 self.