the nerd
we were about
thirteen or fourteen
sarah carried herself gangly
had a head of blonde hair
that shook on the top of her head
like a circus clown
big glasses that covered her pale face
carl glavin was the one
who decided that she was a nerd
so that’s what we called her
whenever sarah walked down the hallway at school
or whenever she spoke in class
nerd, carl glavin would say
in this sneering whine
as the rest of us boys laughed at him
the teachers would get angry and scold us
the girls in class would scowl
because we were making fun of one of their own
nerd, in the lunchroom
nerd, in gym class
if it bothered sarah you couldn’t tell
except maybe her face turned red
every once in a while
she seemed well-adjusted
had a lot of friends
and wasn’t really all that nerdy grade wise
i think carl just liked to pick on people
because his old man
was an oligarchical douche bag
and his mother drank away her suburban existence
there were days when carl turned on his own kind
and you were the nerd for the day
nerd, in science class
nerd, in math class
or nerd at recess when carl had packs of boys
chase you around the campus
but he always seemed to go back to sarah
he’d call her a nerd when she read a book report
a nerd everywhere she went on the eighth-grade trip
he called her a nerd
when we saw her at the mall on memorial day weekend
at graduation carl called sarah a nerd
when she went to get her diploma
but no one laughed
most of us were done with eighth grade
and everyone was done with carl
the other day i heard some boys
calling someone a nerd
i looked up thinking i’d see carl’s fat face
and his long burn-out hair
but i hadn’t seen him for almost twenty years
as for sarah
she’s on facebook of all things
she’s successful and married with three kids
she looks good for her age
we share a lot of the same friends
but haven’t reconnected
i thought about sending her an email
but i’m afraid she wouldn’t respond
time being relative and all.
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