Bob Meszaros
A Teacher Mourns His Daughter
I sit at my desk before an empty classroom,
six straight rows before me, thirty desks in all.
The lights are out; the shades are drawn
and even; the filing cabinet's locked and bolted;
the basket's in the corner by the door.
Here, it is dark and quiet.
Here, every thing is in place.
At mid-night, one day clicks and shifts
into another, clicks and shifts into another.
I press my thighs and forearms against
the wooden desktop and curl into the night.
Bio
Bob Meszaros taught English at Hamden High School in Hamden, Connecticut,for thirty-two years. He retired from high school teaching in June of 1999. During the 70s and 80s his poems appeared in a number of literary journals, such as En Passant and Voices International. In the year 2000 he began teaching part time at Quinnipiac University, and he began once again to submit his work for publication. His poems have subsequently appeared in The Connecticut Review, Main Street Rag, Tar River Poetry, Concho River Review, Northwind, Innisfree, and other literary journals