Dear Teacher Who Can’t,
Bring herself to look at the calendar and count the number of weeks left until summer
Do another day of COVID School
Stop herself from planning a skip day
Find the willpower to get up before 7:00
Handle looking at beach pictures
Revisit her to-do list with so many unfinished tasks
Look in the direction of the books she promised to read
Face the mountain of laundry that was never folded
Unpack the papers that were never graded
Scroll through the episodes she didn’t get to watch
Step on the scale to survey the damage
Stand the sound of the alarm blaring
Remember her morning routine
Be expected to teach on a day like today
Believe it’s been a year since schools shut down
Admit aloud that she wouldn’t cry if it happened again
Accept that she’s the only one feeling this way on the first day back
Surely she’s not, is she?
-CDB