To Mrs. Kobeda by Morgan Boyer

I screwed up my cell cake, despite baking three

batches of cupcakes filled with cookie dough,

Oreo truffles and brownie batter that same

weekend. I didn’t have enough frosting left after

making all of those things, so the Twizzlers that

were supposed to be the nuclear membrane didn’t

stick, and the red M&Ms that were supposed to be

the lysosomes fell off the moment you touched them.

The cake itself nearly split in half on the way to school.

I know you were pissed off when I drew pictures of East

German women with scarves and Parisian back alleyways

while you tried to show us PowerPoints about the DNA of

our ancestors. I don’t blame you for going out with

your co-workers to El Campesino to drown your sorrows

in a margarita pitcher. I would too, if I had a student like me.

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Morgan Boyer (she/her) is the author of The Serotonin Cradle (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and a graduate of Carlow University. Boyer has been featured in Kallisto Gaia Press, Thirty West Publishing House, Oyez Review, Pennsylvania English, and Voices from the Attic. Boyer is a neurodivergent bisexual woman who resides in Pittsburgh, PA. Twitter: @MorganBoyerPoet