Ineed finding the theme for this essay. the essay is: letters trip over each other as they race to leave my mouth. my tongue lines them up in order as they march ot the microphone:
a-s-
i am almost alone on the stage.
one lastkid sags with his head
in his hands. he is mouthing each letter as i say it:
c-e-n-
the hours i have spent on the floor of my room with books in my lap like wounded birds and cramping wrists now seem worth it:
d-a-
there are lists of words scribbled in my cursive and spelled out in my parents' print
on top of dictionaries and thesauruses:
n-c-y
there is applause and i smile.
i shake the seventh-grade boy's hand and whisper, "i'll meet you back here next year for a rematch."
a-s-c-e-n-d-a-n-c-y.