J. Scott Price lives and writes in Virginia.

Required Reading
By J. Scott Price

Poet reads, poet ponders

to a packed house
of poor bastards
forced to stillness
and feigned attention
for their grade.
Smiling faces hide their
inside-eyes rolling, while
ears listen to tonight’s parties
calling, and brains search out
questions with a chance
to acquire a professorial-approving
nod. A sans-screen hand
can be small price to pay
for extra credit, and the knowledge
that all this, too, shall pass.

Poet is not bothered.