In school i studied other kids' lunches
i was a bad speller, didn't care about arithmetic or good citizenship
but having moved from one school to the next
what others had for lunch was of endless fascination
Velvet bread, meat, cheese, mayo, mustard, a crisp leaf of lettuce ...
Some like me had p&j
only their mothers had managed not to place a large heavy apple or orange
on top, mooshing down the middle
with never enough peanut butter
and too much jelly, saturating the still-dry bread