Sep. 26: Thirteen ways of looking at these second graders

I’ve spent enough time in Jack’s classroom now that I feel qualified to make some observations about this year’s second graders. So, with apologies to Wallace Stevens, here they are.

---

I
Among twenty-three students,
The mind-bending names begin
With Hailey, Bailey, and Kailee.

II
There are two lines
For the pencil sharpeners
Over which the second graders fight.

III
The second grader fell in the lunch stampede.
It was a small part of the day’s injuries.

IV
A second grader and a field trip permission form
Are one.
A second grader and a field trip permission form and a forgotten take-home folder
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
That a kid noticed “too” was misspelled
Or that he said a comma belonged before it.
Do I love that kid
Or is he a brown-nosing a-hole?

VI
Students filled their huge backpacks
With barbaric trash.
The shadow of the parent
Crossed it, to and fro.
The irritation
(Why does so much get sent home?)
An indecipherable answer.

VII (why I’m never asked to lead reading groups)
O small child of second grade,
Why can’t you read the word “moon”?
Do you not see how much you
Forgot to learn in kindergarten?
Maybe you should go back.

VIII
I know noble parents
And noisy, potty-mouthed kids;
But I know, too,
That that one student (you know who)
Is involved in it all.

IX
When the second grader moved out of sight,
It was clear
He was about to get his name on the board.

X
At the sight of the glue bottle
Being used as a squirt gun,
Even the most patient of parent helpers
Would cry out sharply.

XI
He rode over the grade school
In a hot air balloon.
Once, an arrow pierced him
Because he mistook
That second grader
For a bad shot.

XII
The hallway reeks.
The second grader must be farting.

XIII
It was a long afternoon.
It was raining
And it was going to rain.
The second grader whined
During Mommy’s quiet time.

---