“Come Read ‘Tom Sawyer’ to Me Again Dear Teacher”

Dedicated to Mrs. Althea Johnson, the best fourth-grade teacher in the world.

Millions of things come to mind

When asked “what does being
Grown-Up mean?”
Driving, dating, working, yada Yoda yada.
But ever hardly never being read to…

It’s a short-schriff sale this adulthood.

Oh my the places and people we smeet.

But when alone, either at night or in
Showerzone, traffic-jam, Wal-Mart line wreck-
I want Mrs. Johnson to read to me again.

Read to me about Tom and Huck and Becky,

Jim and the Indian man and Aunt Polly.
Scary caves and pirates and fence painting-
Save me Mrs. Johnson from bland news,
Biased work reviews, and QE3 blues!

Read to me, let the child in the man

Experience a return to Eden before the fall.
Narrate the stories with the ‘bad words’
Marked through and love for your listeners
Beyond the insulting salaries we pay you.

Who is luckier than every young student

To have second Mothers or Fathers that loved
Us wholly, our faults and talents alike?
Read to me again Mrs. Johnson-Your voice
Still guides me in my journey on the river.