Beating Erasers

I was sent, more often than most,
to beat the erasers.
I found my niche early
and volunteered to stand alone on the playground,
where I leaned back and clapped like a seal,
watching vocabulary, simple sentences,
fractions and small equations explode into clouds of dust,
literature, science and all of history
going up in a clap.
I liked the smell of it,
the taste, and
I'm sure I ate more chalk
than I ever used at the board.



(1985)