Public Speaking at age 10

My teacher told me not to worry

That the Pepto might make it dark

But I had no idea what “it” was

So I kept looking for darkness to appear

In my pee

In my poop

On my body.

.

Hours earlier

I was standing on a stage

In Winchester, Virginia

In front of 1,500 elementary school students-

my peers-

And reading the speech my mother had helped me write.

.

In the middle of my talk

Something awful happened

And the butterflies in my tummy

Turned to knots

And my white cotton pants

Betrayed my nerves

As they suddenly, violently, turned brown.

.

Quick thinking suggested that I grab

The pitcher of iced tea

on the table

on the stage

and spill it on myself

and try and salvage

my dignity.

.

This action did not help.

This action did not cover up

What had happened.

And so she whisked me off the stage

Away from the glaring eyes and laughing faces

Of those 1,500 elementary school students

Who had been listening to the speech

My mother helped me write.

.

And she gave me new pants to put on.

And she gave me Pepto.

And she warned me it might turn dark.

And I didn’t know what she meant.

So I stayed awake,

wondering what "it" was,

and fully expecting the darkness

that never arrived.