White Screen, Black Words

Aglow on the white screen her poem

Hovers over rows of glazed eyes

And minds numbed by noise

A poppy farmer’s tragic tale

From half a world away she’s

Captured for a lesson in imagery

Machetes hack illegal blood-red

Petals scattering seeds like coins

Across the gray Afghan stones

The farmer falls to his knees

Weeping while his wife stirs

A pot of shriveled sugar beets

Black words on white describe

Seven small expectant faces

And stomachs growling in the night

Slouched and sipping Evian

Her students yawn and toy with

Shiny ipods cupped in their hands

Her words explain how the farmer

Cannot pay the grim dealer in opium

Whose mouth scarred by brutal brawls

Contorts and rages then demands

One soft young daughter for his bride

She who had planned to teach children

The white screen clicks dark

Students stumble out the door

Thirsting lattes and slick sleek cars

But one girl later in math class

Draws red poppies in her notebook

And thinks of a gray draped shadow

Trudging toward a waiting wagon                                            

A small bundle clutched in her hand                                                    

Resigned to fate and silent mountains                                     

Then with pencil and blank white page                                   

She copies out the day’s equations
Seeking solace in the answers
 




                                                                       Kate Hutchinson