Can I Sit with You?

Our show in Seattle was fantastic. We are exhilarated and exhausted. Photos and videos to come.

The reporter who interviewed us expressed surprise that none of the live stories were about special needs. So, while you wait for event news and media, here is a piece about what it is like to cope with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) in the classroom.

Lines
by James Penha

From the time he carefully
pulls the stool from beneath
the massive black slate
of the science laboratory table
    to align
    the outer edges
    of its rear legs
    perfectly
    against
    the line
    separating
    –looking
    backwards
    from the table
    –the black –the white
    imitation marble imitation marble
    tile tile
    from the white from the black
    imitation marble imitation marble
    tile tile
    on the left on the right
and arranges
the equipment required
for the experiment
to follow the set-up printed in the laboratory manual he stared at
so long last night at home
he fell asleep
before trying to revise his English homework
or reading consumer math,
Angel worries what he will do
forty-three minutes
and ten seconds from now
when Mr. Klepper
five minutes
before the bell
forty-two minutes
and fifty-five seconds from now
tells the class to clean up which means
Angel will be watched
forty-two minutes and forty-five seconds from now
to see if today he pushes the stool
back into the shadows
beneath the dark desk slab
where there is no line
to align
to its feet
so if Angel does push the chair
into chaos
his head will spin, stomach churn
and he will cough up what he didn’t
in preparation for the day
eat for breakfast or
he will be given one last chance by Mr. Klepper
again to cooperate
before being sent to the office and
two hours
forty one minutes
and five seconds from now
detention instead of home,
so there is no time
or space to think of science
and he’s falling
    per second per second
to earth