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Poem from:

Long Division by Andrea Cohen

Terrible in Math

Cohen, Andrea

for James Tate

In sixth grade
in a yellow pinafore

in the middle
of long division,

I climbed atop
the teetering book case,

pretending
to be God,

which prompted
Miss Bromley

to detain me,
though later

she stroked my cheek
and instructed me

hereafter not to
pretend, but be.

I would have clipped
the wings of all

my angels, so much
did I worship her.

Copyright © Andrea Cohen 2009

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