In English Class, I Wrote This Poem

Zahra Mohamadi, “The body as a bed of pain / بدن به مثابه بستر درد”

In math class I got the highest grade 
for calculating the time of death and the amount 
of destruction I could cause for a group of private school 
boys whose festering body odor subtracted 
intelligence from their brains.

In science I made the books 
into bombs that exploded on the boys’ heads 
because when I stood up to speak about the anatomy of the heart,
they tied their mouths into nooses and vomited spitballs at my head;
Why bother to learn about something you don’t have?

In music I hit the drum sticks together
until they turned into metal batons––
and you know what I did. 

In electronics I built an electric 
chair that I forced the boys to sit in one by one 
because they forced me to sit in my own
power outage. 

I went to the design and technology room
where I built their coffins from the wood and metal 
they had thrown at me over the years.

The art room was where I painted 
the coffin with an illustration of myself 
in my red-and-white checkered school dress.
I am above them now.  

I was so proud to stand at the front of the hall 
and deliver the eulogy with the entire school 
in attendance, without interruption 
and with the respect 

I deserved.

This piece was previously published in Issue 56 of Raven Cage Zine

Bianca Grace is a poet living in Australia. She is a reader for Sledgehammer Lit. Her work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Selcouth Station, Ample Remains, The Daily Drunk Mag, with forthcoming work in Capsule Stories and Sad Girl Review. Follow her on Twitter: @Biancagrace031.

Zahra Mohamadi (b. 1992) is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist from Tehran. She has studied painting at the Fine Art school and sculpture at the Art University of Tehran. Her main focus as an artist is on women’s issues, and she finds the medium of sculpture most conducive for doing so. In Mohamadi’s work, the goal is to ask questions, not judge and the main themes she tends to explore are violence, rights, identity, the body, gender, sexual orientation, and taboos. Follow Mohamadi on Instagram: @_zahra_mohamadi__