Insults like
“No one likes you”,
“No one wants you here”,
Or
“You’re worthless”
Are shot across school hallways
Like bullets shot across a battlefield
Imbedding themselves in the skin of their targets

Demeaning labels like
“loser”
“ugly”
“dumb-a**”
Bind victims up
And trap them
In their own insecurities

The phrases
“Kill yourself”
“You don’t deserve to live”
And
“Go die”
Are dropped like bombs on
Unsuspecting and innocent bystanders

These victims will always carry
That sense of being trapped
Those circular scars on their chests

And
The memory of the raw skin that
Seemed to cover their entire bodies

The lucky victims
Who survive
The gunshot wounds,
The imprisonment,
The large blasts,
Walk away with
Severe burns that never really stop burning
Broken bones that never heal quite right
And they can never quite shake the memory of
That circular scar on their chest,
The sense of being trapped in
a place they wouldn’t impose on their worst enemy,
Or
The time they served on the
High School Battlefield.