After School Detention

A young boy sweeping stairs after school
will, perhaps, remember
(the next time that he finds himself in
contemplation, clowning for his class
upon his mind) how warm it is right
now and how his arms ache from the strain
of repetition. Never did the stairway seem
so steep before, as when each inch is
scrutinized and sanitized by no one's
efforts but his own. And then another dose
of someone's teasing as they pass,
good-natured but unwelcome still
from those who know they're heading home
to snacks and games while he has time to think,
get past the tendency to lay the blame at any set
of feet save his A broom in the hands of a boy
can be a teacher too: The inner joy of completing
the task well, the sigh accompanying the final stroke
made in a corner at the top, the smile from someone
checking on his progress, And who's to say that they
are not important lessons, too, even more important
at a certain level, than the ones
he missed while cutting up in school?



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014