Adjusting to Girls in the Schoolroom
a girl in the desk beside mine in Latin class
close to tears begs me to help her
translate an excerpt from Caesar’s Gallic Wars
we meet after school
then I walk her home after school
then I walk her home sit at the kitchen table
where our hips tingle one another
then we settle on the couch where our shoulders
sizzle one another
then I’m invited to stay for dinner
then I stay after dinner to watch TV
with the family
then a more experienced prince charming
comes into the picture
then Julius Caesar is history
Tony Howarth is going on 90. After careers in journalism, teaching and theatre. He began writing poetry at the beginning of this century after a visit to the home of William Wordsworth in England’s Lake district. With the help of the Hudson Valley Writers Center he authored two books, Wild Man of the Mountain, and A Hand to Hold, published by Broadstone Books. This poem will appear in his upcoming book, Zig-Zag Boy.