Among the first we learn is good-bye,
your tiny wrist between Dad's forefinger
and thumb forced to wave bye-bye to Mom,
whose hand sails brightly behind a windshield

From "First Gestures" by Julia Spicher Kasdorf


A Roundup of Poems about School:

From "One A.M." by David Young
You'll show that toad-eater who wrote... Night Thoughts

Pledge by Elizabeth Powell
Republic, your cool hands / On my schoolgirl shoulders...

Sentimental Education by Mary Ruefle
Ann Galbraith / loves Barry Soyers...

All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare
All the world's a stage...

Theme for English B by Langston Hughes
The instructor said...

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We...

Mary's Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale
Mary had a little lamb...

The Junior High School Band Concert by David Wagoner
When our semi-conductor...

The Testing-Tree by Stanley Kunitz
On my way home from school...

Sick by Shel Silverstein
"I cannot go to school today,"

Evening Walk as the School Year Starts by Sydney Lea
When was the last lobotomy, I wonder...

Why Latin Should Still Be Taught in High School by Christopher Bursk
Because one day I grew so bored...

In Michael Robins’s class minus one by Bob Hicok
At the desk where the boy sat, he sees the Chicago River...

Apples by Grace Schulman
Rain hazes a street cart's green umbrella...

Art Class by James Galvin
Let us begin with a simple line...

The Hand by Mary Ruefle
The teacher asks a question...

more poems about school