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      August 6, 2024“Switch Plate” by Al OrtolaniAl Ortolani, Chapbook Prize

      The day moves by me, and I’m still
      at the same old desk that was two-wheeled
      into my room by the custodian. The lights
      run on some kind of motion detector.
      If no one moves, let’s say, in ten minutes,
      they blink out, and I have to raise my arms
      and wave them like crazy. Possibly,
      they click back on. Possibly, they don’t.
      At this point, I have to get up and walk
      the room in the dark until the shadow of me
      is recognized in the recesses of the switch
      plate. Once in a while I’ll have a class
      of high school kids writing essays,
      and the lights will suddenly black out,
      and they will all look up astonished
      like they’ve really done something cool.

      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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