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Teacher at Dawn
by S. Pelham Flood(untitled)
At 4:57 a.m. she stirs and turns
over before the alarm on the phone rumbles.
Straight to her kitchen
ignite the burner
start the kettle
pour the Kashi
in the lone clean bowl
wet it with milk.
Its all routine.
While the water boils
she quietly enjoys the bitterness
from her cigarette.
It will be her only one until that evening.
As the ash blossoms,
she spoons down sogging cereal
before sipping remnants
from the bowl.
The smell of fresh brewed Earl Grey
bounces around her studio,
sweetening the blue smoke.
She sips the tea softly,
sulking in her couch, scanning her leftovers
on yesterdays to-do list.
At 5:31 a.m. she slips into the slimy shower
before tangling her body in Goodwill
rags that are three uses past laundering.
Then it's time to walk the dog, share a few glances
with Ms. 418, practice her stare
on the early arriving construction workers,
flick on some eyeliner and shadow,
throw in the ear buds
and flit down the street towards the 5.
10/22/2007 Posted on 10/23/2007
Copyright © 2026 S. Pelham Flood
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 10/23/07 at 04:11 AM A sharp, brilliantly captured scene. This has POTD written all over it. |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 10/23/07 at 04:35 PM Such a great discription. It captures one from the beginning and just keeps you going. Very well done! |
| Posted by Alison McKenzie on 10/23/07 at 05:10 PM It felt like such an intimate peek into her world that I felt intrusive reading it. I felt bad for the goodwill clothes and the slimy shower, the lone clean bowel, the futility of both attempting to eat healthy by eating Kashi, and applying makeup to a cigarette-aged face. And then, the woman who I would guess would drink coffee, actually drinks tea instead, another paradox in this very interesting view of a teacher's dawn, in which she did not wake up but moved about by rote. |
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