clods

when i woke at 4:00 this morning,
i remembered a science teacher i had
in the 7th grade
(i guess when you are sick and sleep for three days,
at some point your body says, "ok, that's enough sleep!")
Mr. Johnson was a thin wiry guy with a Tom Selleck mustache,
he had black curly hair and the demeanor of sage..
one day,,
a few of us were causing the entire class to dodge spit balls,
suddenly, with the agility and speed of a Puma,
he was standing on top of the gray metal desk,
he screamed with veins popping from his neck and forehead,
"DON'T YOU WANT TO LEARN,
YOU BUNCH OF CLODS?!!!"
i never looked at him the same way after this,
he took on a new persona, a new light..
for a while we stopped with the spit balls,
and learned science,
he taught with more abandon,
we had never been called clods before..

wkm
Nashville