Hilary Biehl

Orpheus at School
 
They tell him, “Pay attention to the board.”
They tell him, “Life is serious.” But he’s
intently working out the perfect chord,
the one that will make elms and apple trees

uproot themselves and dance; the one that will
bring back his girlfriend (almost) from the dead.
They tell him, “Put that lyre away,” but still
he goes on practicing inside his head.

His mother reads him epic poetry
and points out centaurs on their evening walks.
At school, though, he pretends he doesn’t see
the skipping rivers or the waltzing rocks.

In the end, it’s not his teachers who
tear him to pieces, but his peers, who hate
the way he cocks his head to listen to
Apollo (“That old god thinks he’s so great”).

Hilary Biehl’s poems have appeared in Blue Unicorn, THINK, The Orchards, Autumn Sky Poetry, and elsewhere. She lives in New Mexico.