A Palimpsest

11 


      You wrote or read a thing

                                    that bent you, bowed you.


                To fix—with a slab of wood

the teeter or tilt 

                                of a desk,

        a cabinet, a refrigerator.


To stare. To match you up

                                with someone parents think

        is suitable. Little sibilant, little plosive. 

 
                   To finish. To finish  

you for good?  To fix—to mend a seam,
                                 
                                encircle or darn with bright 


orange yarn. Lie down, they say. But one

                                doesn’t make or unmake

                     alone.  You are untutored 


in XML or other kinds of code. Do you have

                                  a chance at the future?

                     When a student gets it, sometimes


they all but jump up and clap their hands.