Lips zipped

Eyes ready.

Looking to the board

Hand steady.

Notes in mind,

Immediately…

But just a secret between you and me,

What can’t you tell

Your teacher

So easily?

 

Is he tall with a voice,

Drowsy and melodic?

Can you smell her perfume,

Floral and hypnotic?

She writes on the board

With trademark swirls,

Does he always favor the boys or the girls?

 

Some things you can’t say

Some things you don’t want to

Aren’t there more things

That are bothering you?

 

Of course you think “yes”

But when a teacher is there

They question your grades

And you just stare…

 

Watching the narrative

Your teacher assigned

Play in your head

And shielding your eyes

 

A story of a dragon

Expelling smoke in your room,

While a princess eats crystals

And flies to the moon.

 

Of course that paper

Failed in the class

Your “fairytale” narrative

Was without any facts.

 

They tell you, your mind is filled

And jumbled

Your attitude is aloof

And you sit and mumble

They tell you things like,

“you’re pessimistic and shy”

You think to yourself,

“I’m a realist, and

I get by.”

 

That narrative again,

Or “fairytale” they say

Was written again

But with the same grade

 

Behind the “F” in

Trademark red

Was the part with the girl

Hiding under her bed.

 

You know she’s scared,

In her castle at night,

Of the ghost that spits swords

With his sheer might

 

He drinks his magic to stay alive

And wanders his garden

That’s sacred and thrives

 

But she is a knight

And you are too

As you sit alone in

Opposite rooms

 

Your armor is battered

But you stand tall and brave,

To save the little wolf

That’s lost in a daze

 

She’s too young and fragile

To sit alone

She howls at the moon

And begins to moan.

A cry so shrill

It hurts your ears

But you’re a knight,

You must forget to have fear

 

You save the wolf

And hold her close

As your back sprouts wings

To take you both

 

But the ghost and

The dragon

Take your wings tight

Their broken, and sadly

Can’t condone flight…

 

The princess who eats crystals

Is back from the moon

The wolf whimpered

A sad melodic tune

And until light

Breaks for the dawn

You must return to your chessboard

And holding a pawn

It’s more battered than the rest,

But you hold it close,

And whisper to a crack,

 

“Tomorrow I’ll be a knight.

Tell the wolf I’m coming back.”

 

Your teacher snaps

And questions the tale

You stare blankly

And accept the “F”

You’ve failed…

 

She offers you candy

Of the special kind

To help you focus

And calm your mind.

 

You think to yourself

“My mommy took those.

They made her grow wings

And then she rose.

Flying above our little town,

She left me with dad

Here on the ground.”

 

Your silence is aggravating

So you have a detention

Because of the story

You happened to mention

 

You sit at a desk

Keeping your thoughts at bay

Then you think to yourself,

“What you can’t tell your teacher,

Is what you don’t want to say”