Nerves Can't Be Avoided

when she slides into the confines
of her desk
rubs her fingers against
the reflective
cover of her red folder
finds her short story
to be critiqued in class today

a plate shatters in her ears,
shards scattering
in her belly, cutting into the mucosa
of her stomach.

She curves her palms over her eyelids,
watches the globbed shadows
of her insides form into microscopic
viruses. Reminds herself
she has been through workshops
fourteen times before.