It’s homecoming.
It’s high school.
Brisk autumn air
and new outfits.
Football players sport
team jerseys in class,
laugh loudly
tossing jokes across the aisle.
Girls flirt
and midriff tops are back.
It’s homecoming time
and the kids are finally 
together again.
The big dance is Saturday
and all will sport fine style
and class.
All classes will attend
the homecoming dance
and there will be no touch
down
there
because now it’s time 
for the homecoming dance
dress code PowerPoint
with seven slides
showing inappropriate dresses
not to wear
to the homecoming dance.
A homeroom boy stands up
fist in the air
to protest the dress code
but girls down the hall
their fingers smartly flying
over phones
beat him to it.
It’s homecoming 
and time to debate
the homecoming dance
dress code.
It’s a 1920’s theme this year
And Jason bought a pocket watch
with chain
and now chains are banned
along with short dresses.
Protests are discussed at lunch
amid school spirit contests
and sign up for powder puff
and powder buff
and come paint a poster after school.
Stains of the school song,
still strained
but getting better
seep into the science hallway
fourth hour.
It’s fourth down and a field goal.
The new sophomore from Chicago
joined the football team.
Football players practice
after school
in wind and rain
after everyone else goes home.
See the cheerleading stunts
and jumps
at the Friday afternoon pep rally
with rivalries between grades
over who will be loudest
as rhythmically stomping feet
almost take the bleachers down.
The seniors always win.
It’s homecoming 
with themed dress-up days
all week.
Monday is Pajama Day.
Football players huddle
over geography textbooks,
plot latitude and longitude
and argue amongst themselves
over which one of them
could maybe be a teacher one day.
It’s homecoming week.
It’s high school
and we’ve all come home.