Email Poem

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Poem

By Edmund Siejka



A high school English teacher 
Issues a challenge
Her class
Is to write a poem.
 
Reading a student’s poem
Her experienced eye
Searches for
Imagery
Metaphor
Tone
Point of view 
Ultimately the student’s poem
Is graded a gentleman’s C.

Somewhat surprised
The student admits his shortcomings
Indicating that poetry is a lot like writing
Disappointed 
The teacher  
Doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Coming home that night on a crowded train 
The teacher passes up a seat
Letting an exhausted looking woman
Sit down
Thankful 
For this simple courtesy
Brief smiles are exchanged
Strangers from two different worlds.

The teacher notices the smell of disinfectant
Hovering over the woman 
Thick fingers holding  tightly to her purse 
The woman
Begins an animated conversation 
With two other women
Broken English
Graceful hand movements 
Words interrupted with laughter.

From what the teacher hears
She believes the women 
Are cleaning ladies
The little people who clean the bathrooms
Vacuum carpeted hallways
Empty the trash
From windowed offices 
High above the New York skyline. 

The words ‘poetry is a lot like writing’ 
Linger in the teacher’s memory
One thing she is sure of 
The ladies know of life 
After years of 
Hard work for little pay
Hungry children
Angry husbands
Absentee landlords.

The train stops
Momentarily the ladies collect 
In a small group
On the empty train platform 
Suddenly there is no more talking
In the awkward silence
Each of the ladies turn
Toward the direction 
Of a place they call home.

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