Homework poetry is written by Alice Shapiro.
Laughing, dancing on the spongy earth
they don’t bother with the interruption
but I, having turned toward their play
grow fonder of the spectacle
than to writing.
The half-blank page
suffers from imbalance
like standing only on one leg.
With a fleeting, bitter breath
I reclaim my place and place the pen
at the fragmented thought
and set to fancily embroider, embellish it.
A cat’s meow and pounce
at a great invisible phantom
takes me, smiling, off the path again.
Incomplete and disillusioned
the lesson has no end.