On Finding the Ant Plant Dischidia in an Abandoned Plantation Forest 
in Singapore 

From Heaven it fell, the day of the trip 
As my students trudged through a jungle of their imagination 
And I wished there were a lesson in a tropical storm 
Believe it or not 
I had found an article about it the year before 
In the New York Times 
And had saved it 
Surely, today’s seventh graders can struggle through newspaper 
As well as they can trudge through forest 
But who would believe it? 
Certainly not the boy who thought flour came from a box 
That this ant plant sent roots into its own leaves 
That’s not what we learn in school 
Leaves are up and roots are down 
What kind of teacher is this forest? 
What stories are being told there? 
Maybe we should be afraid 
And tear it down so we won’t 
Have ants in our houses 
Or live like ants inside of leaves 
Or be ants