sitting at sixth grade desk
but shoulders and back
at too low an angle
so the homeroom teacher
came up to me
and fiercely expelled
the physical demons
she thought I possessed
punctuating this with shouts
about my bad bad behavior
as other students looked
and did nothing
for fear of teacher
striding to the closet
and pulling big wooden paddle
off its hook
this was recorded for posterity
by nondigitized memory
and may never be erased
copyright 2016
Terry
McCarty |