Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Robert Verdon, #298, Relief


‛well, Brad,
12 times 75 …’
the teacher’s thoughts were of a
crystalline grand piano
a chalk cliff
a butter bean loaf
the lesson had flown like mist
time to follow it but she was too
conscientious
it was her first day
a laugh at the front, like an escaping fart,
suppressed
the girls looked severe,
and then it all flooded back —
‛12 times 75 = 900’
she replied, to applause,
and someone really did fart then,
and all was forgotten.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Robbie, I've read this maybe 12 times and it keeps on getting better. It's the end of Term, I hear, in Oz now. As for me, besides the recurring nightmares, I don't miss teaching high school at all. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks Rob, I've never been a teacher (unlike some of my friends) — but this is perhaps the sort of 'cultural appropriation' Lionel Shriver would approve of!

    ReplyDelete

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