Teachers

One of them in your dream saying memory is genius.
One of them in your dream lamenting the word dream,
quoting someone in your dream, saying imagination is,
face it, more fun with others, the trick is to read someone
beside yourself, then take a long look at yourself
in the mirror and say, “You’re a genius, you’re a genius...”

One of them in your dream reading from the blank page.
One of them in your dream: Etna at the end of a street.
One of them never in. One of them in the room pacing
endlessly, at the board, and going on about sources.
One of them saying, “Empty.” One of them, “Open.”
One of them in your dream reading from the black page:

Children, go home, before it gets too dark.
If you don’t go home before the light has gone,
If you don’t go home before the night has come,
Listen to me, you will be lost in the dark,
Listen to me, your joy will turn into sorrow.
Children, go home, before it gets to be dark.

Copyright © 2019 by Will Schutt. This poem originally appeared in Smartish Pace. Used with the permission of the author.