Allen moved to California
three weeks after school started
and now has returned in April.
Maybe he’s a migrant, or maybe
he’s a shuttlecock being batted
between divorced parents.
The counselor says Allen has attended
ten schools in seven years.
When I test him, Allen scores second grade
on a standardized reading test. Now,
the long slow burn of frustration begins,
having to wait for him to be retested
by Special Ed, and maybe, just maybe,
the gears will turn in time
to get him into the correct placement
before the semester ends, or he moves again.
Up to his chest in quicksand,
if someone doesn’t throw him a rope,
he will disappear.
Mark Thalman is the author of Stronger Than the Current, The Peasant Dance, and Catching the Limit. His work has been widely published for the last five decades. Thalman retired from the public schools after teaching English and Creative Writing for 35 years. Please visit markthalman.com.
