Geometry Class

JoAnne Growney



Yesterday, some visitors
interrupted geometry class-
angry voices raged around the room,
unwilling to stay caged within my head,
while I spoke pleasantly
of axioms of incidence,
placements of parallels,
number of degrees
in the angles of rectangles.

Wake up.  This is not difficult-
no hungry mouths to feed, no
bleeding wounds to heal.  Adopt
a polygonal attitude.  Examine
an assumption.  Abandon the postulate
that says, don't ever question.
You were not born knowing.
Your mind won't get dirty
on a tangent of hyperbolic thought.

Open up.
Let one eye watch
the parallels
that meet.
Shift to a point
of perspectivity.
Draw those lines
that cross
at your heart.

My students
ignored these voices,
so I dismissed them
and went on-
politely coaxing
obtuse angles
to square up
and respond.


(Back to contents)