The Crossover

While Vondie and JB

debate whether the new girl

is a knockout or just beautiful,

a hottie or a cutie,

a lay-up or a dunk,

I finish my vocabulary homework­—

and my brother’s vocabulary homework,

which I don’t mind

since English is my favorite subject

and he did the dishes for me last week.

But it’s hard to concentrate

in the lunchroom

with the girls’ step team

practicing in one corner,

a rap group performing in the other,

and Vondie and JB

waxing poetic

about love and basketball.

So when they ask,

What do you think, Filthy?

I tell ’em,

She’s pulchritudinous.