by Michelle DeRose
 |
| Texas schoolchildren as young as four years old are being given Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon books, teaching them to “run, hide, fight” if a gunman enters their building. —The Guardian, May 25, 2023 |
If we must die in classrooms
barricaded by books
stacked against doors,
praying that the weight
of words makes metal
wade through air made
dense with sentences,
that students find
a window to safety
with a tolerable drop,
that we stop the onslaught
just long enough for a few
to return to their own rooms,
barricaded by books
stacked against doors,
praying that the weight
of words makes metal
wade through air made
dense with sentences,
that students find
a window to safety
with a tolerable drop,
that we stop the onslaught
just long enough for a few
to return to their own rooms,
may we at least select the books.
Michelle DeRose has been teaching English at the college level for thirty-five years. Some of her most recent poetry can be found in As You Were: Military Experience and the Arts, Dunes Review, The Lakeshore Review, The Healing Muse, and Making Waves.