Shudder, Tremble, Then, Now

Freeverse

A shudder, a tremble,

hearing a screech.

Was it that chalk again -

on that board or this wall?

We tend to hear things

at the strangest of times:

midnight, noon, three-seventeen.

But seven minutes to ten?

Hmm. That's an odd time.

It may come again tomorrow.

But what is weird is that

it will come yesterday.

Yet I knew nothing of that till today.

We have the strangest of brains.

(Aug 2022)

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

I hate the sound of chalk, the screech, it gives me the shivers; perhaps this person got his days mixed up, or is slightly hard of hearing...or it may be selective hearing... I like the structure of this poem, it's a bit tricky! I much prefer magic markers!
Best, Betty

[Nima.Hope]

The delicate sound of chalk! Ha! I have lived many years in Persia and you remembered me of our school that didn't have markers at the time and it was all chalks. We would always compete to gain the attention of teacher to bring Chalks from manager's office. I enjoyed this poem like a puzzle to the past.
Thanks for sharing it.
Nima

[W. Barrett Munn]

What a relief to read free verse presented well.
I enjoyed this one.
W.

[redd Brick Keshner]

Back in the day I had to wash out chalk dust from my nose after a long day of teaching. Then we moved on to whiteboard markers. And now its smart electronic whiteboards. And they all have their respective sounds. And the later ones their own type of pilot lights. And our brains do seem to trick us and at times one can hear the cackling in the background if we listen hard enough.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I remember back...the nuns, the chalk...what I learned and forgot, what I learned and retained.
when I started teaching we still had chalk boards...now magic markers on white boards.
life has changed...but what we know we know....
maybe it already came tomorrow.
j.