Tenth grade teacher, a Mr. Suchandso <br />slashed a C minus across her very first poem <br /> <br />ashamed to be qualified as less than mediocre <br />it was many years before she dared compose another <br /> <br />and, indeed, may never have <br />(a loss the world might long regret) <br /> <br />but for an insistent voice within her that <br />refused to succumb to <br /> <br />the unwitting cruelty of a witless pedagogue <br />who should have known better. <br /> <br /> <br />(Previously published in Spilled Ink, July 2000; Stroll of Poets Society, July 2000)<br /><br />Laurence Overmire<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poisoned-apples/
