Then The Teacher Claps The Erasers
There are ways of turning pencils
into checkerboards and dice.
New chalk squeaks. Eight times five
makes fifty? Four three seven seven
upside-down, makes the word
"hell"--and antidisestablishment-
arianism is the biggest
of all. It took us years to learn
the names of capitals of states
and nations. Most have long forgotten
names like James K. Polk and Martin
Van Buren. But there is a way
to make small footprints climb a window;
if you speak in less than whispers
girls will still know what it is
you mean; and there are many codes.
We worked, homesteading our desks
like pioneers: making do with
what we had, crafting new things
out of the old. A chain letter
mapped our prospects: on we went,
armed with hairpins snaps and rubber
bands. When no more sticks of gum
were left, we timed our held breath.
Different smiles, the same tears:
we were so little and had so little
to learn and so much time to learn it,
all those years. All those years.
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