One my students at Berriman Junior HS <br />dead now, no chance for her childish dreams <br />ever to unfold or fail <br />a drunk in a demon car <br />heaving an entire life into an irrevocable coffin. <br />Twelve summers, that’s all. <br />She sat in the first row, fourth seat <br />chubby, face like a butter ball, soft <br />always well dressed. <br />Julia adored cosmetics <br />had a special purse filled with <br />varieties of perfume, mascara, eye shadow, <br />false eye lashes, nail polish, blush <br />no lipstick, never asked why, <br />but eye shadow her passion, <br />especially blue and white. <br />“Julia, you’re in a classroom, ” I said. <br />“We don’t put on make-up here <br />we come to learn.” <br />“But, Bernstein, don’t I look pretty? ” <br />Julia become emotional at times <br />if someone took her potato chips, <br />or looked up her dress. <br />Thomas Minton crawled around the room <br />searching for fallen tidbits, a potato chip here <br />a pencil there, scraps of paper actually causing delirium. <br />One day during an intricate application of eye shadow <br />Minton stared up Julia’s dress <br />a good five minutes before his shrill squeaks startled her. <br />“Bernstein, ” she said angrily, <br />“you better tell that boy <br />not to look under my dress <br />or I’m going to beat his butt.” <br />Julia’s purpose in life was to discover <br />what it meant to be a lady. <br />She had come to believe reading <br />really didn’t have much to do <br />with such a sublime mission <br />a lady meant wearing a lovely dress <br />with make-up perfectly applied. <br />I tried to make Julia happy <br />her innocence so overwhelming <br />so I said, “Your dress is gorgeous, <br />those shoes utterly fabulous <br />please, model for us.” <br />She pranced to the front of the room <br />and turned and twirled <br />as she felt a Supermodel would turn and twirl <br />I clapped. A few students joined in. <br />She bowed.<br /><br />Charles Chaim Wax<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-julia-dulon/
