“Is it okay if my uncle sleeps with me?”

she asked

instead of a question about algebra.

“I want to die.”

she wrote

on a worksheet about verbs.

“Doing crack ain’t no game.”

she stated

flat-voiced and professional in art.

“He beats me.”

she remembered

as she dreamed in study hall.

“Will my baby be as dumb as me?”

she questioned

during a biology discussion.

“Is there any hope?”

she wondered

in the margins of her history test.

“This life is going to kill me.”

she predicted

over french fries at lunch.

“She was a good student.”

they inscribed

on her tombstone.