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      September 12, 2019Eighth Grade Industrial ArtsAl Ortolani

      Shop Class frightened him,
      the jigsaw, the planer, the lathe,
      most of all the teacher
      and his long, double-strapped paddle
      that hung by the tool room door.
      He was frightened by the raw oak
      that he dreamed would become a bookshelf
      where he’d rest his favorite copies
      of Robin Hood and Tom Swift.
      Unlike Eric or Wayne, he couldn’t see
      how to turn lumber into the photograph, p. 87,
      in the shop text. From here to there
      was lost to him, not unlike Latin
      or basketball or junior high girls.
      He feared everything in Shop Class,
      the noise of the jigsaw, the vibration
      of the blade, the proximity of his fingers
      to the cut. He feared his stupidity,
      his awkwardness with tools, the towering
      man with the paddle, who appeared
      to frown at his very existence, who took
      his misshapen boards out of his hands,
      and, in saving the boy from an F,
      screwed them together
      with thick, round-headed wood screws,
      then, tossing it like a towel
      onto the shop table, wiped his hands
      clean on his navy apron.

      from Hansel and Gretel Get the Word on the Street

      Al Ortolani

      “These poems represent connections to others, sometimes dark, sometimes light, often quirky. A fellow teacher, and mentor to the poet, once said that one of the most difficult measures of the career public school teacher is their ability to stay positive and elevated by interest, if not always in the subject matter, then in the hand raised outside of the T zone.”

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