Elementary, My Dear by Lena Jones ‘20

Elementary, My Dear

Blue bricks and a concrete jungle gym My little feet padded ‘til callouses coated them Beckoned by the toll Oh no, not a bell The toll A single note chain-linked overhead Arching into the electric lights Meshing their buzz with droning hummm…

That’s how someone might have described it for me From the sidewalk alongside metal gates Standing there, beneath the toll Accosted by paint chips flaking blue

I’m here to say I was blessed When solid walls stained me graphite gray Minutes turned to hours as new, ornate phrasing Pushed me to the sentence limit Yes, reread that The second grade sentence limit 5 per paragraph etched to my eyelids A smile not far behind it as I placed the last dot.

That Is where I learned to write And wouldn’t it be a severe oversight To look past my face toward the height of that fence?

With scuffed shoes like any other child’s Dressed to impress in sky hued polos My most ardent opponent to a fine education Was kept far from my sight