It Turned Colder Overnight

A writing workshop by Rickey Cotton, formerly of Southeastern University, resulted in the following poem.

It turned colder overnight

Students enter numb

from the cold

from the homework

from the its-still-the-first-week-of-school

The silence of silence in the

5 minutes before class

They aren't even on their phones

Floridians in shock

I, who waggle, wallop, whoop

wonder how to survive

5 minutes alone