Oh Lucky Man (the emancipated pupil)

 Let’s call it the scene of empathy. Let’s call it the hesitant sociological scene. The scene of the incalculable rhythm. It is a scene neither of subjection nor objection. Looking with this hearing is a kind of building with or bearing. (Fred Moten 2017)

Oh Lucky man

 

Whilst you were queuing

The earth quaked

Seth asked if you could bite down

And you find yourself in the washrooms

Wondering if you really should

Wash your mouth out with soap and water

Excited to finally have this opportunity 

To enact a phrase hitherto only heard

In the echoing hallway outside 

the headmaster’s office

Knock and come in said the Pharaoh

A machine whines and whirs

As you wait for it to deliver its verdict

You will grow up to be a parent with a fine head of teeth

Well, if that’s all there is to it? You think

I’ll take my chances and sit here

Lapping up the applause

As you stand to acknowledge your victory

In the district school sports sack race

Your thumbs squelch into the clay

You pass the pot to the person on your left

Who smiles and raises it aloft to celebrate

This, our victorious emergence

Into the dappled daylight

Of a world on the cusp of coming unstuck