how one visit to a bakery could evoke a flashback
of that one humid, dusty school day - humdrum freshman year mid-semester
still getting used to our new MCS highsku uniforms
we wear those thick gray jackets
just so it weighs down our skirts and the boys don't see our panties
well, because we're supposed to wear shorts underneath but that's too
uncomfortable. So we wear those thick jackets in 98 degree weather instead.
We walk in a pack - on our way to the local library, class trip,
an important resource for our small island - our haole teacher leads the way
behind the buildings on the main road, back alleys of Chalan Kanoa
My friends and I, we take a detour, to Marg's Kitchen
who love us because we clean them out every morning before school starts
and we order tuna sandwiches, papaya koko and Hi-C.
Some of us fight over the last empanada of the day.
We pay, run out to catch up to the others.
Fingers bright neon yellow from the papaya koko,
I shield my tea box straw when the cars go by,
dust flies.
