Poetry

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By

JD DeHart

Teaching

Some sit at their desk

like hard lumps of clay,

immoveable, motionless

voices prodding – pick up

your pencil, raise your head,

real life is coming

Others hang their heads

low, inhaling the odor of steaming

test scores, shuffling self-shackled

feet through their classrooms,

offering an occasional raised

and irritated eyebrow – the answers

are not all in the back of the book,

dear

Still others animate themselves

with lives of courage, read ahead,

then read some more, see the desk

-but also the person in it, raise high

the printed word, edify with the lesson,

listen to the sounds of their voice

cascading, an eventual ebb and flow

to the upcoming assignment

where pen and paper, or finger

and keypad, will meet in a celebration

of just what the hell we did today.

JD DeHart

JD DeHart is a writer and teacher. His chapbook, The Truth About Snails, is available from RedDashboard.