The Letter E

Marjorie Maddox

-after the painting by Anna Lee Hafer

Don’t distract me with questions,
those extraneous detours that topple learning.
E and only E is today’s lesson.

The enemy of schedules is curiosity, omissions
necessary for well-paced delivery. We yearn
for no distractions. Don’t ask me questions,

time-wasting, silly digressions
of how and why. Pay attention. Our concern
is E and only E. Today’s lesson

is letter 5. Your inquisitive obsessions
are enemies of order. Don’t ruin
class by distracting me with questions.

Creativity’s the one transgression
I won’t allow. Sit still. Don’t squirm.
E and only E is today’s lesson.

Up next? The letter F, natural progression
of learning. Quiet! It’s not your turn
to talk. Don’t distract me with questions.
E and only E is today’s lesson.

Marjorie Maddox is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University. She has published 13 collections of poetry—including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize); Begin with a Question (Paraclete), and Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (Shanti Arts), an ekphrastic collaboration with photographer Karen Elias—the short story collection What She Was Saying (Fomite); four children’s and YA books—including Inside Out: Poems on Writing and Reading Poems with Insider Exercises (Finalist Children’s Educational Category 2020 International Book Awards), A Crossing of Zebras: Animal Packs in Poetry; I’m Feeling Blue, Too! (a 2021 NCTE Notable Poetry Book), and Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems —Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor); Presence (assistant editor); and 650 stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. www.marjoriemaddox.com