one-room schoolhouse
the entire classroom was lost in thought
wrens were bouncing off the window
as if the outside world
had become scarier than usual
the children were reading solzhenitsyn
as the substitute teacher paced
back & forth along the blackboard
questioning every line
one by one the wrens went away
only to be replaced by morning doves
forming a simple line on the ledge
later there was a debate
exactly what year it was
unable to come to an agreement
they decided to move on to salinger
there would be no recess
due to the ongoing conditions
the kids tired of math & science & dead birds
all they wanted to do was read books
like ‘one flew over the cuckoo’s nest’
september two thousand twenty-one
copyright j matthew waters
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