November 2017
Perry S. Nicholas
perrynicholas53@aol.com​
I am a Professor of English at Erie Community College North in Buffalo, N.Y.  I have 5 books, 4 chapbooks, and 1 CD of poetry. I am married to Maria Sebastian, a well-known singer/songwriter, and we perform our poetry and music together at many venues in the WNY area. For more information please visit my website: www.perrynicholas.com

THE TEACHER

​
The disappointment in your faces
flickers when I try to explain
not everything works out the way
 
we hope it might in the beginning,
while I slip on my teacherly robe,
still learning, testing out words
 
like touching together ends of electrical wires
Listen to me, I’m old, I want
to scream at a distracted cluster
 
of uplifted moons waiting to be
somewhere other than where
they have been studied or eclipsed.
 
I grapple for just the right phrasing,
anoint your foreheads lightly,
and wish I could smooth over
 
the scattered craters in your expressions.
I think back, resurrect the rocky lessons
I’ve transported in the pockets of my universe.  
©2017 Perry S. Nicholas
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