when I went to school
I remember my third grade teacher,
Mrs. (I can’t recall her name) ,
was five foot two,
walked with a limp
but had quite a reputation for discipline.
Her guidance counselor was a tennis shoe,
keds, I think.
You know, back when
the laying on of hands was permitted.

Not the normal big stick with one inch holes,
but a damned tennis shoe.
It was reputed to have a larger
sting per swat ratio than the board.

Now I don’t recommend corporal punishment.
Kids can be taught civility without
kicking, slapping, swatting and
boxing their ears,
(I think troublemakers ought to
shovel coal in the furnace after school) ,
but the fear of that tennis shoe
kept order in third grade,
and I’m not too sure it even existed.
Mrs. (I can’t recall her name)
probably made up the whole thing.

But never-the-less

If Nike and the Board of Education
could make a deal
maybe we could get rid
of all those metal detectors
and lockers searches.