Past

Locked

    (a true story)
    Locked in a room with three hundred teachers
    and I suddenly realize
    I don’t remember exactly how to do quadratic equations.
    Newton’s three laws,
    the entire periodic table of elements,
    reasons for signing the Treaty of Ghent,
    the significance of the term paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
    all gone.
    Pythagorean theorem–it was here yesterday.
    Yesterday, I remember exactly how many apples fit into this here orange.
    Yesterday, I remember exactly how many times Sir Walter Raleigh must have circumnavigated Queen Elizabeth the First.
    Yesterday, I remember Mister Young knew exactly what Shakespeare meant when he wrote…
    …some words
    but I don’t remember a word Mister Young said.
    I take some comfort from the fact that three years of hard grammar
    slipped in while the province was teaching people
    whole word recognition
    leaves me secure in the knowledge that
    gerund
    is
    a real word.