Latin class

Amaberis, you will
Be loved. Feelings
Conjugated
Down to one word of linguistic
Essence without
Fail. Syllables slip
Gently through my teeth and I
Hope that
I do not mess up and make a
Joke of myself.
Kill me, I think, as I
Leave a trail of words tumbling behind me,
Mumbling foreign tongues with record speed,
Not wanting to recite another table
Or translate another
Passage in which I would have more
Questions than perhaps answers.
Recitals finally end and I
Sit down in my chair—still shaking, still
Thinking over every mistake, but
Ultimately we both know it will not matter.
Vale, you tell us, goodbye, and
We whisper the word back to you, your
Xenia has been appreciated, but we move on. I see
You counting the number of seats left as we leave, light slowly leaving your eyes until you finally reach
Zero, and your eyes have no light left in them at all.

ξ

“Latin class” was first published in Kenyon Review Young Writers Anthology — the Upside Down Tree.

Saturn Browne (she/they) is an Asian writer. She reads a little too much. Her work appears in Beaver Mag, South Florida Poetry Journal, and Eunoia Review. Their website can be found at saturnbrowne.carrd.co

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