Je vous aime

Lock the door.

Blockade the door with heavy furniture.

But our furniture isn’t that heavy.

And our backpacks are not furniture.

And this is a high school French class.

Et nous sommes la famille de français.

And someone shouts: “Faisons la barricade !”

(Because we just watched Les Miserables.)

This is a drill.

We pretend we don’t see

The long row of cabinets at the front of the room.

Pretend we don’t hear

When she says,

“If this were real,

I would stuff you all in there

And tell him there was no class in session.”

Pretend we don’t translate it.

We are la famille de français.

So, “Oui !  La barricade !” she agrees.

And we pile desks in front of the door.

And we weigh the desks down with our backpacks.

And the whiteboards are all that is left.

And the whiteboards are not heavy.

But they’ll fit in the gaps in the desks.

So we weigh them down with our words.

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