BinDer

by Heather Carnaghan

Love is a strong word
for a binder
but this binder was a work of art
a type A educator’s
titillating dream.

Deliciously color coded,
it held coveted secrets to my
daily doings
learned over thirteen years
of attendance
and parent conferences,
of messy inquiry
and messier class pets.


That binder held in it
the blueprint
for a substitute,
that stranger to my surrogate children,
to assume my teacher identity
fully and competently
for an entire quarter,
(A lifetime to an 8th grader).
It was just enough time
for me to grow
a wriggling newborn into
a rolling three month old.

I was ready for her.