The School Teacher

 

The cards came mostly at Christmas 

but sometimes on her birthday 

or random other times of the year.  

At Christmas there were fat, jolly Santas 

or Currier and Ives’ prints reminiscent 

of the school where they had been with her. 

The letters told of their successes, 

frequently clips from newspapers 

called the Weekly Herald or 

The EveryDay News with a picture. 

She’d look at those, sometimes 

touch the face, maybe say, 

“he lost his hair” or “she’s as beautiful 

as her mother.” Sometimes the florist 

would deliver a Poinsettia 

or a vase of cut flowers. 

There was always news 

of their families and maybe 

a family picture. Opened on arrival, 

she read these missives, 

folded the contents back 

into the envelopes 

and rubber-banded the lot 

together with a note to herself 

on top. “Didn’t hear from Martin 

this year or Marian got a new job.”

These were their stories. 

The stories of the people 

whose lives she had helped 

to shape and how they now fit into society. 

 

20.06.27   7 a.m. MDT