your name,
emblazoned in backlit letters:
“MARY H0LLISTER - NAMED FIRST YEAR TEACHER 0F THE YEAR 04/05”
hooks my eye
on a Friday

i guess
i always knew there was something special
about our 8th grade,
year together,

but i guess i didn’t realize it meant so much to you
that now you’ve chosen
to relive it
year after year
(i kid myself).

at least now i know you'’re somewhere familiar,
somewhere sacred,
and
at least
your last name
is still the same.

06/27/2005

Author's Note: My first-ever love from 8th grade, as it turns out, is now an 8th grade teacher herself at a school close to the one that we went to. Holy crap, we're getting old!!!

(And yes, she really was First Year Teacher of the Year, according to the sign out front.)

Posted on 06/27/2005
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