I sat staring deep into the flames, listening to voices stirring the wind around me. Soft footfalls pressed through the grass stalks, rustling gently. Though I couldn't see them, I knew they were ... [+]
Melinda Brasher's work appears in Hippocampus, 50 Haikus, Deep Magic, and other magazines. Visit her online at www.melindabrasher.com. "To My Students" is in Short Circuit #04, Short Édition's quarterly review.
You come to my class at nightThirstyYou want to learn EnglishPass the GEDFind a better jobProve to yourself you can do itYou dropped out of school in second grade to work the fieldsOr in ninth grade to have your twinsYour father didn't believe in educationYou never learned to read in your own languageYou've been told you're stupid by people you loveYou fear that your children are ashamed of youYou paid a coyoteTwiceThen you stood on the edges of the Home Depot parking lotHoping every morning for some workFor nineteen years you were a slave to your husband's prideHis need for controlHis violenc