Hazing Preps

by Noel Sloboda

In dark of night we commit our crime,
sneaking into the rooms of new boys
weary from classes, unaware of ploys
to impress upon them lessons sublime.
To journey from childhood into their prime,
they must first abandon innocent joys
which adulthood naturally destroys.
No more restful ease for them come bedtime.
In tight ranks we pile on each prep’s bed;
springs snap and feet buckle, until a crash
brings a mass of young flesh straight to the floor.
The freshmen cry, draw closer to the dead,
as their rudely awakened bodies thrash
under the sleepless boys fallen before.

© 2007 by Noel Sloboda


 


About the Author

Noel Sloboda, originally from New England, currently teaches at Penn State York and serves as dramaturg for the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of places, including Hazmat Review, Studies in the Humanities, FRiGG, Triptych Haiku, The Cape Rock, Academic Exchange Extra, Waterways, and Ghoti.

 

All content copyright © 2006-12 by ShatterColors, unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of material, in whole or in part, from any ShatterColors Literary Review
pages without written permission of the copyright owners is strictly prohibited.
Site designed and built by Robert Scott Leyse, with input and logo by Granville Papillon,
and wallpaper by Edward Haven from two of his paintings.