Learning Up Front
For as long as I remember
I’ve always
I sat up front of the class
so I could watch Teacher
otherwise I’d be sitting
in the back somewhere
reading lips
between bobbing, swaying, nodding heads:
some were tall
some were fat
some had perms wide or high
some had bushy ducktails or ponytails
some even had crewcuts
that the rest didn’t matter
As long as I sat up front
so I could watch Teacher.
Some teachers
talked chalkpoking the blackboard
Some teachers
talked flipping fanning pages
Some teachers
talked zigzaging rows of aisles
that bobbing, swaying, nodding
heads didn’t matter
As long as I sat up front
so I could watch Teacher.
When my classmates spoke
I never knew who
as long as I sat up front
so I could watch Teacher.
Whether meticulously copious notes were
written on the blackboard or
on blue on white
nauseating ammoniated ditto or
on black on white
ink-blotted, letter-smudged
mimeograph or
read from the book
As long as I sat up front
so I could watch Teacher.
Never once could I tell
how much I understood —
a day never went
without daydreams —
it never really mattered
as long as I sat up front
so I could watch Teacher.
Deaf Way II Anthology (2002)
By Curt Robbins