in gradeschool once or once again
while having to prove in the workbook
yes I really can
tell oranges from apples
is this what we go to school for
I remember sraring at the clock
at ten after three
then looking quickly out the windows
that hand cranked opened from the inside
all those rows and rows
why don't they believe me yet
that I know an apple is not an orange
and also, put the other way
an orange is not an apple
and why does the clock hand move so slowly
between 3;10 p.m. to 3:20 p.m.
when I can see the buses lined up already
can picture the older children lined up
with their flutaphones
and right now even at 3:10 we could be
on the road back again to home sweet home
if they would just let us
and, meanwhile, why don't we talk about
the clock or am I the only one who sees
the clock needs help, it's lost its place
in the line somewhere drifting between 310
and 320
I want to know this they never talk about clocks really
except for the hickory dickory which is a rhyme
I loved as long as the mouse was a singing mouse
from Disney's Cinderella otherwise,poor mouse
always going up and down the clock never
stopping for apples or oranges
why am I so small at my desk so that my feet
won't touch the floor
is that why I keep getting scored on sorting the
one apple out of the picture with the oranges
from the picture that teacher just mimeographed
at lunchtime so that apple or orange
they're always painted in purple ink
why do they think that I don't think
that I think apples and oranges could
possibly be the same thing
when what I really want to understand is
What is Time?
and why does it always keep slowing down
at the worst moments
mary angela douglas 11 may 2018
while having to prove in the workbook
yes I really can
tell oranges from apples
is this what we go to school for
I remember sraring at the clock
at ten after three
then looking quickly out the windows
that hand cranked opened from the inside
all those rows and rows
why don't they believe me yet
that I know an apple is not an orange
and also, put the other way
an orange is not an apple
and why does the clock hand move so slowly
between 3;10 p.m. to 3:20 p.m.
when I can see the buses lined up already
can picture the older children lined up
with their flutaphones
and right now even at 3:10 we could be
on the road back again to home sweet home
if they would just let us
and, meanwhile, why don't we talk about
the clock or am I the only one who sees
the clock needs help, it's lost its place
in the line somewhere drifting between 310
and 320
I want to know this they never talk about clocks really
except for the hickory dickory which is a rhyme
I loved as long as the mouse was a singing mouse
from Disney's Cinderella otherwise,poor mouse
always going up and down the clock never
stopping for apples or oranges
why am I so small at my desk so that my feet
won't touch the floor
is that why I keep getting scored on sorting the
one apple out of the picture with the oranges
from the picture that teacher just mimeographed
at lunchtime so that apple or orange
they're always painted in purple ink
why do they think that I don't think
that I think apples and oranges could
possibly be the same thing
when what I really want to understand is
What is Time?
and why does it always keep slowing down
at the worst moments
mary angela douglas 11 may 2018
