OFF TO CAMP

Where do you think you're going?

Here, stand with this girl
you've never seen before
and talk with her on the bus
all the way there
only to find out later
no one likes her.

Why else would she talk to you?
Stand amid all these trunks
and duffle bags, pull your hat
way down. It still won't hide you.
You can't run away that easily.

Everything you left behind,
all the kids who made fun of you in school
have gone off ahead
to haunt you. You're not like Judy
who snuck back into the bunk
to tell you

she knows how you feel because
in the school she goes to
they treat her that way.
Remember, even after all that
she wouldn't play with you when anyone else
might see.

But your parents saw. They made sure
you had someone to stand behind you
when they took your picture.

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Copyright © 1997 by Rochelle Ratner.

Light and Dust Mobile Anthology of Poetry.