POEM OF THE MONTH

On Being Locked Inside A Tiny Room By An Inept Caretaker

I have been locked inside a shrinking room
Alone with my marking, and it's shrinking still.
I have to get out of here before noon.

I must rise and teach a French class very soon
On a cover whose teacher is safely ill.
I have been locked inside a shrinking room.

The caretaker put right (while whistling a tune)
Its gale-clacking doorlatch from hell. Bliss, until
I have to get out of here before noon.

It took weeks to fix, now it's fixed like glue
And he's done it before, with an unlearned skill.
I have been locked inside a shrinking room.

He proved - FROM INSIDE - why the snag can't resume.
"I can't believe you did that. This is surreal.
I have to get out of here before noon."

Now my life bats past my eyelid, my thoughts swoon,
My lungs are shrunk violets, my tongue a spun drill...
I have been locked inside a shrinking room.

I can wait in boiled calm for a saviour to loom
Or waste my breath in screams long and shrill.
I have been locked inside a shrinking room.
I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE NOON!

© Gareth Calway, February 2002