hourglass w/ nails

i have watched a day turn into 
a pile of rusted nails. the teacher
puts me in the "game over" chair
& i watch as she makes my classmates 
play musical hats. when the music stops
you need to find a hat or 
you'll be turned into a beta fish.
there is a little boy in a cage
we call the class pet. he eats food pellets
with his hands. the window is 
a television. once we had a snow day
& all of us ran outside. feasted 
on frost & icicles. our parents were
busy talking to their lawns & so 
it was just us. the teacher said, 
"fend for yourself" which i heard as
"build a pie to sleep in." the hourglass sits
on the end of her desk. whenever she wants
something to be over like a rain storm
or a child crying, she turns the glass over
& tells the subject, "you have this long
to become a loaf of bread again."
the butcher's kids sit in a separate room
so they don't cause any damage. 
blood in their pig tails. spare knives 
in their lunch boxes. i have always wished
i was something dangerous. instead,
they handcuff me to a computer
& tell me to type until i know
where all the keys are. i am convinced
i won't ever know. the hourglass 
grows legs. a centipede. i crawls
across the wall. no one tries to catch it.
after the day is done i always stand ringing
like a struck bell. i tap on the telephone.
call my grandmother who lives
inside a pomegranite. she says,
"don't tell them we talk." i nod & say,
"of course i won't" even though
i know for sure i'm going to confess 
everything to the hourglass 
if i ever get time alone with it.