John Haynes
Supply
for Elizabeth Bewick
Supply today. Year Two. The children sit
crossed-legged on the carpet. Learning goal:
Be logical. What do the facts permit?
Watch now. Gently I put the goldfish bowl
over the candle flame, and bit by bit,
you see, it shrinks, and shrinks, down to a ball
of red, that shivers out with just a flit
of thin brown smoke, and then nothing at all.
Let’s do that once again, okay? Watch it.
But now just as the candle’s going to fail
I lift the rim up just a finger width.
The flame writhes once and then is still and tall.
Before I even ask what’s happened here,
the whole classroom’s exploded into cheers.
John Haynes has published two volumes of poetry, one under a Nigerian name. A new book-length poem, Letter to Patience, is due early next year from Seren. After training and working as a primary school teacher, most of his professional life has been spent lecturing in English Language at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria. He now lives in Hampshire with his Nigerian wife and two children.
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