Schools are, once again, overwhelmed by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this current stage, some districts have shut down for days at time, others are asking parents to serve as substitute teachers. All that was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Taking Roll
school’s back in person all over the place
no one wants to zoom
it’s hard enough to teach and learn
when you’re in the same damn room
at least some places, schools mask up
so there’s at least a chance
of making it through the second term
without doing the covid dance
still it’s hard not to imagine
the air a thick miasma
with thirty students all emitting
viral mucus plasma
teachers, once just underpaid, overworked and stressed
now our sacrificial lambs
on the altar of lectures and tests
while the kids learn a lesson, all right
though not the one we’d prefer
is risking their lives worth getting them out
of our hair? the world says, “sure”
but what can you do? nobody likes it
but nobody’s got the time
to fix it, including yours truly
the writer of this here rhyme…
Typewriter Rodeo airs each Friday on Texas Standard. Send us your ideas for a poem on 
