In class did it ever occur to me
that we were putting our chairs
on to the tables at the end of the day
to assist the cleaners? In the dusk,

through the fence, this school
is lit up like a cruise ship while
the cleaners go about their business
and I’m having a midlife epiphany.

I think I thought we were raising
our chairs in honour of the clock
above the blackboard, the God
of Home Time. Did nobody explain?

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Audio
Lorraine Mariner reads The God of Home Time

 

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