fifth grade memory #2
a story in an auxiliary reader delighted me
so much our teacher asked me to read it
to the class I did so with enthusiasm it was
called hare and hounds the tricks of the hares
to avoid capture were capricious and clever
for instance they scattered their paper-bit clues
on either side of a fence forcing hounds to
climb back and forth losing time while hares
skipped merrily ahead: but well into the saga
miss hurst gently asked me to stop – the tale
far longer than she'd thought did classmates
ever finish the story? I dunno – it was less a
humiliation more a realization about time pace
taste, 20 years later I went back to that room
in search of that reader but it was gone...
2022 Jacqueline Jackson
