Mrs. Brewster’s Second Grade Class Picture

by Stephen Dobyns
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Great poem. I have never heard of Mr. Dobyns before, but I will be reading his stuff.

Hmn . . . It doesn't feel like poetry . . . It feels like an incredibly brief story. It's interesting, don't get me wrong . . . it just doesn't feel like poetry.

I have Mr. Dobyns checked in the "like" box somewhere in my brain. This poem doesn't disappoint. It's thought-provoking, perhaps as we are of similar ages judging by his picture. Choice, luck, destiny--topics to explore. This is a lovely meander in a classroom of organized desks and kids, into the wild of a national park--where a certain type of predator is real as day.

I found this poem haunting me this morning as I watched the shiny faced group of kids across the street waiting for the school bus, our small group of neighborhood parents snapping pictures on their phones, on this year's first day of school. Who will they be? How will their lives unfold? How odd that this day to them now feels like who they are forever, and that they have no idea it is a quickly passing moment in time.

Wonderful poem! The juxtaposition of the shining, young faces with the last two lines of grizzly and wolf . . . wow.

The possibly bright futures, the wide-open spaces, the wolves at the door. Beautifully written.