We always started social studies class with a short discussion of current events—sports
score updates, President Clinton’s impeachment woes, NATO finally striking back
against Milosevic… In my mind, it was stuff that happened to other people who lived in
other towns. I usually spent the period writing novels about perfect games and World
Series glory, and Wednesday was no exception.
the crack of a bat--
a classmate’s perched chair
tips too far
Wednesday was no exception. Again, something horrible happened in another town to
other people we didn’t know, and the boy in front of me tipped his chair precariously one
more time. But ten minutes of discussion quickly morphed into twenty and then into the
whole period. Before the bell, our teacher lets it slip that someone in our school might
do the same to us: my best friend.
ripples spreading
across the flooded practice field--
his words echoing through time
Author Bio:
Colleen M. Farrelly is a freelance writer whose works have recently appeared in Haibun Today, Frogpond, Contemporary Haibun Online, Cattails, and #Femku, among others. She is a mathematician and data scientist by day, and she is working on a lay textbook covering geometry in data science and machine learning (release date in early 2020). This poem looks back on her teenage years and the moment that current events became relevant to her.
score updates, President Clinton’s impeachment woes, NATO finally striking back
against Milosevic… In my mind, it was stuff that happened to other people who lived in
other towns. I usually spent the period writing novels about perfect games and World
Series glory, and Wednesday was no exception.
the crack of a bat--
a classmate’s perched chair
tips too far
Wednesday was no exception. Again, something horrible happened in another town to
other people we didn’t know, and the boy in front of me tipped his chair precariously one
more time. But ten minutes of discussion quickly morphed into twenty and then into the
whole period. Before the bell, our teacher lets it slip that someone in our school might
do the same to us: my best friend.
ripples spreading
across the flooded practice field--
his words echoing through time
Author Bio:
Colleen M. Farrelly is a freelance writer whose works have recently appeared in Haibun Today, Frogpond, Contemporary Haibun Online, Cattails, and #Femku, among others. She is a mathematician and data scientist by day, and she is working on a lay textbook covering geometry in data science and machine learning (release date in early 2020). This poem looks back on her teenage years and the moment that current events became relevant to her.
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