“Dissonance 4f2” © Edward Michael Supranowicz

 

Whelmed

A lesser human might say,
I can’t take this another year
but I am too afraid of my own resumé
too comfortable in this discomfort

I let strangers call this dedication
and thank me for the job I do
adding, Tsk, middle school…
I wouldn’t wish that on anyone

Certainly there are worse professions
and more thankless
but most don’t come with summers off
not to mention major holidays and weekends

I am certain, I tell the bystanders on the shore,
I am not drowning. This water is not deep enough
They grumble in disbelief and move on
some keeping a watch out of the corner of their eye

These are the ones who know what it is to drown in a puddle
I am in up to my ankles already
and now
up to my shins

 

Christopher Clauss is an introvert, Ravenclaw, father, poet, and middle school science teacher from Keene, NH. He is an organizer and frequent member of the Slam Free of Die poetry slam team. His mother believes his poetry is “just wonderful.” Both of his daughters declare that he is the “best daddy they have,” and his pre-teen science students rave that he is “Fine, I guess. Whatever.”

Edward Michael Supranowicz has had artwork and poems published in the US and other countries. Both sides of his family worked in the coalmines and steel mills of Appalachia.