To A Teacher

Go ahead.

Leave your questions hanging in empty air.

Send disappointed glances

Toward the blank paper in front of me.

Go on. Faze me. Try.

I won’t cave.

You lost my interest long ago,

And I could have passed the test

Without your rambling lectures,

Without the parroted video clips, indeed

Without ever setting foot in your classroom.

I have a life.

And whether the charge of the day

Is finding a new house,

Or visiting a burned friend,

Or serving in a homeless shelter,

Or sailing on the wild water,

Or even having coffee with my dearest friends,

That is what I’ll do.

Do you really think I’ll waste my time

On your nightly reviews?

My life is larger than dryboard walls

And a projector.

You get no more of me

Than I acquiesce to give.