Robert Plath on the Other Side of the
Empty Spaces
I remember my senior
year of high school
my last class of the day
was Business Math
with old Mrs. Veezer
whose breasts hung like
two giant bowling pins
beneath her dresses
this one particular afternoon
she was rambling about
New York State sales tax
then she turned to scratch
a formula onto the blackboard
that was when Todd
decided to throw a desk
out of our second floor
classroom’s emergency window
the rest of the class kept quiet
as it thumped onto the front lawn
Mrs. Veezer didn’t hear a thing
and didn’t notice the desk
missing when she faced us
then when she turned her back again
I grabbed a desk by two legs
and tossed it out the window
far enough so teachers below
couldn’t tell which one of
the classrooms it fell from
Todd threw out three more
I also threw out a window shade
and Mrs. Veezer’s potted plant
she never heard any of the thumps
of the desks on the front lawn
or the rattling of the paper shade
or her pottery hitting the ground
she never noticed the sunlight
blasting on those empty spaces
where the missing desks were
she just kept going on and on
with her petrified wooden breasts
about sales tax while the suicidal desks
some on their backs with four
legs sticking up in the air
some leaning sideways on their arms
some fallen forward on the edge
of their work surface lay scattered
across the green, green grass of June
© Copyright Robert Plath 2007