| The Poetry of Karla Huston | ||
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| WHAT SHE'LL DO FOR LOVE | ||
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Katie, my student, says she wants
to improve her writing, do a book report for practice or a literary analysis for fun. I play along, flattered she's asked, so together we flip through books, consider ideas, till she finally blushes, then admits this work is for a boy who will surely flunk otherwise. My stomach knots around my scruples. This is cheating, I know, but without it, he'll fail. And she'll fail him. Once I loved a boy so much I'd do anything for him--wash his hair, clip his nails. I wrote essays for him about Hawthorne and Shakespeare, speeches about putting greens and modern art. How easy it was-- the open page, his mouth repeating. Like Katie, I hoped he'd be the servant to my clever tongue, need my words so much he'd never leave. |
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Previously published in The Comstock Review, Wisconsin Academy Review, Angelflesh, and the chapbook: Flight Patterns, winner of the 2003 Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest, 2003.
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