by Marissa Bell Toffoli.
Let’s begin here.
The books have pictures.
The grainy paper has lanes.
The pencils are sharp. Who minds
if some letters are backwards?
Once in a while. The jaded bend
with distraction, seeking surprise
where others look forward
to familiar. Pink erasers.
Washable glue. The future
holds what we imagine.
Let’s adorn our days
with kindness.
Lined up together
the rulers are all the same
length no matter
their units of measurement.
It’s refreshing to think of equations
as true or false—with wrong or right
dependent on the question asked—
to consider evidence and perspective
as light through a hand lens.
My vocabulary is rusty.
Let’s practice.