Teaching tough kids
In a notoriously tough school
Can be tough on you
It was well known
He only came to campus
For my computer class
A perpetual 9th grader
Being held back many times
Didn’t bother him
He was only waiting
Until he made the legal age
To leave school
I left to teach at another school
But I still kept in touch with friends at that tough school
One day an English teacher there called me to say
The student who only came for my class
Had been murdered
Shot to death
A gang killing
I missed him even before I heard
We’d grown so close
The two of us
Sitting side by side
At the computer
Writing his stories
Lanning Lee 