Grade Eight
By Andy Quan
Published 1 January 2021
Confession: I volunteered. Since, I’ve purposefully omitted
‘library monitor’ from my C.V. But why disavow?
We didn’t play rugby. It was a way to delay marching
back to our boring homes, four best friends
unaware of our outcast status, charging returned
or demagnetizing books to be borrowed, we’d play
games with the security system: how to sound the alarm
and turn it off quickly, shelving races, book carts dodge-‘em.
We drowned willingly in words, quiet and so much order.
Once, after the rest had left, I found a book about gay teenagers.
I never read it, was simply happy it was on the shelf.