Lecture Time
–after reading Lesson Plan by Billy Collins
by Marcel Aime Duclos

Clouds cloak the prairie
while the dog hovers over
his water bowl
like a ruling rooster
in the poultry yard.
I reach down to prune
a sucker or two
from the miniature apple tree
with its miniscule apples.
At eleven this morning,
I will present the clinical case history
of a gifted alcoholic
documented back in the eighties
when the days crept slowly by.
Perhaps I could begin the lecture
with the story
of this lonely, prolific tree
planted in a rotting whiskey barrel
by the chicken coop door.



 

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