Something hides in the corner of your smile.
I don’t know what and my mind is beguiled.
So I follow along a yellow brick road
Sleuthing the answer that nobody knows.

Is it delight? My brain grapples to learn.
Is it a kiss? My heart swells with a yearn.
Are you laughing at me? I cower within.
What is it? What is it — that draws me in?

I wander to the corner of your smile After trapped by your emerald eyes a while And feel the next bout of smile-sick syndrome ‘Till you grin and I sigh, “there is…

Slowly
Children
Hiked up
Onto the platform
Overlooking the green pleather rows
Leaving behind their familiar home life
Building anticipation
Up in their minds about
Seeing friends and conversations that might happen

Softly
Caregivers
Hung back
Offering silent prayers
Overcome that moment with pangs of
Loving anxiety, hoping for success
But also for challenge to
Unharness potential,
Strengthen social skills, and wear them out a little

This is an acrostic poem, to capture the whimsy of a school-related topic. I wanted to tell the same story from two different perspectives, the way Monet painted the same scene in different atmospheres.

The lake dresses
Reflecting new moods every day
The lake dresses
In sky blue, white in her tresses
In frumpy brown after the rain
On misty days in cotton-grey
The lake dresses