Introduction to English

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.

*

But it is not that easy.

I am thirteen, white, born in Sacramento.

I often worry about problems that are not mine nor mine to solve.

I schooled myself when I was younger by reading a great many classics-

Heidi, Call of the Wild, A Little Princess…

I went to a small school in the town that I grew up in

Good old Redwood City.

Then I kept changing schools;

Woodland, Springer, Loyola, Covington

And then to Castilleja.

I am the only person in my class who is constantly changing,

Neither here nor there.

The small flight of stairs from the green door lead down into the parking lot,

Where I hop in my car and drive to my home,

Passing a buzzing place full of life-Castro Street

Ending up at my quiet house on Whisman Avenue,

Where I end up sitting at my crate and barrel desk,

Where I type this page for you.

*

In truth, it is not easy for me to know the answers

At thirteen, my age.

But I do know that true friends last a lifetime,

and so do most differences between people.

And though you may be my teacher,

and I do learn much from you,

you do as well from me.

Even though you are older, and wiser,

and a little less bound.