The Test

“____________” announced over the intercom is less than a minute to lock the door. In the
hallway, what we don’t have time to say we exchange in a look before turning on our teacher
faces again.
a) hard lockdown
b) soft lockdown
c) this is a drill

It is quiet enough to hear ___________________.
a) footsteps in the hallway
b) someone crying next door
c) my heartbeat

That my classroom has no windows and therefore doesn’t require us to crouch out of sight is an
example of _____________________.
a) good luck
b) strategic design
c) the illusion of safety

Thirty faces hover over their screens and_______________
a) play a game
b) text their family
c) grow bored

The painted blue sky and Simpsons-style clouds on the back wall, as an image, serves
as__________________.
a) an allusion to the pastoral
b) an ironic symbol of freedom
c) a realistic detail to establish credibility, a sense of place

My concern is—you’ll read this poem and feel______________.
a) hopeless
b) manipulated
c) nothing

Later, we’ll learn _____________________________.
a) he hopped the fence near the stadium
b) a monitor thought she heard gunshots in the complex parking lot across the street
c) we passed

Lucas Wildner lives in Seattle where he is repairing his relationships to German and English and…. Ghost City Review published his debut chapbook Fluency in June 2022 and his chapbook [eyes emoji] will be published by Francis House in 2023. He is a Pushcart 2022 nominee. He can be found on twitter, sadly: @wucas_lildner.