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.