Sixth Grade
My first man teacher,
first research paper. I used
an encyclopedia. “Spain.”
He blamed me for the 500%
increase in juvenile crime—
I said I’d rather study
American history than Roman.
He yelled because we couldn’t name
the Emperor when Jesus was born.
When he got in trouble,
he took me out in the hall,
put his arm around me,
and asked me to ask my parents
to defend him at the meeting.
The gym seemed huge. We often
played a game where we threw balls
at each other. Junior high
in September–my teacher,
while out of my life, festered.
A year like an open sore.
Kenneth Pobo has a new book (prose poems) out from Clare Songbirds Publishing House called The Antlantis Hit Parade. Forthcoming from Duck Lakes Books is a new collection called Dindi Expecting Snow. His Twitter is: @KenPobo.