THE CLASSROOM (EMBODIED)
DIANNE CIKUSA
[The teacher in the dream]:
Affixed to clandestine pages is the memory of a carousel
On the idling carousel is a child,
lone and subdivided, revolving in crippled subset
Watching the child is a sage, a visionary man in personified boots.
[The student in the dream]:
Printed in the margins of urban realm is a speech balloon,
inflated by grandiloquent ideals
Dissolving in the speech bubble is a hinterland,
hiding fragile heartstrings and prohibited entry points
to all but one [ v a s t ] scapegoat.
[The caretaker in the dream]:
Outside the melodrama of plot is the venial stretching of a pledge,
a teething affidavit,
short-listing newcomers who laid gimmick upon early scaffolding.
First published in ZineWest 2019
Dianne writes in English and French. She has published works in several anthologies, magazines and online journals, in addition to three full-length books of poetry.
( Mignon Press )
Image: Lara Taylor