YOU THOUGHT IT WAS THIS, BUT IT’S THAT
“Wellness” and “mindfulness” are akin to
the alarm-orange Home Depot bucket in the corner
of the classroom:
full of sand, antibacterial soap, and water w/
expiration dates.
Active-shooting situations last an average of five
minutes, studies say, but the lockdown
can last
for hours
while you
wait for
cops
to clear each
corner of the building. Some people
react to stress by shitting; others tighten
their assholes.
[squatting over a bucket w/ your peers
watching]
Meditating in class is like that. Cueing up a guided
meditation w/ flower petals unfolding
psychedelically through strobes and breathing
deliberately and lavender diffusing and artificial
light switched off and self-caring.
I don’t need a bucket to shit in.
They don’t need secular prayer.
I don’t want to learn how to survive shooters and stress.
Stop what makes living so hard.
Things need abolishing. / Then we can talk.
Joseph Rathgeber
is from New Jersey. His novel is Mixedbloods (Fomite, 2019). His story collection is The Abridged Autobiography of Yousef R. and Other Stories (ELJ Publications, 2014). His work of hybrid poetry is MJ (Another New Calligraphy, 2015). He is the recipient of a 2014 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship (Poetry) and a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship (Prose).