Reading for Ms. Doyle's First Grade Class
- Reading for Ms. Doyle's First Grade Class
My daughter looks painfully proud, whisperingto her friends. Among the low smells and scrawlsof elementary school, the kids sitin odd angles at my feet, look up
with much nose-picking and tittering.Today, I don't read the greaved poems underlinedwith suffering, but one set on the bright sideof the moon, another with undead birds
flocking over a tire store, a rant about the painin my shoulder, a Big Bang pantoum,and my hopeful ode to folding a napkin.Question-and-answer time. A long silence
hovers over the packed classroom.I start to panic … I lean forward and ask,"What is poetry?" Instantly, I see the truthin their faces. They ponder
the arcana of another adult.I look over to see Lydie's worried face.She teaches me about difficulty. A poemis a classroom that contains my daughter,
the molding world map, math games with X timesand repeated Y's, hand-madeplanets, and the nearnessof the alphabet. On a good day, poetry's
dry silence surprises.So it is that finally, Caleb,the bad boy with an unpained face asks,"Can you tie my shoe?" And I do. [End Page 174]
Chris Green is the author of The Sky Over Walgreens, Epiphany School, and Résumé. His poetry has appeared in such publications as Poetry, The New York Times, New Letters, and Prairie Schooner. He has edited four anthologies, including I Remember: Chicago Veterans of War. He teaches in the English Department at DePaul University. www.chris-greenpoetry.com
