Poem 276 – Target & Teacher & Telling PLUS Gertrude’s October Offerings

Target & Teacher & Telling

without fail, fifteen minutes into every exercise I do
I enter the stationary section in Windsor’s old Target
the journals the notecards the stickers the cheeky literary books –
cradle my bouncing heart like a library made just for me
rows of wooden shelves filled with & paper all saying the same thing:
keep going
then I’m in the ballet studio, wall-to-wall mirrors I despise
the kind teacher’s soothing french-accent voice the grand plies
that make me dribble pee – a different shade of comfort saying
the same thing: keep going

when sweat stings my eyes, I curse
tell myself that after this pain

I can write

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