Teacher

I am 15 in junior
High in my last class
Of the day for the next
Nine months of 9th grade
Listening to the teacher talk
About art and the Italian
Renaissance painters
Albrecht Durer and
Fra Angelico as
Slides showed
Their style
Colors
And
It is all
Interesting
To me so I sketch
Pen and inks a tree
A boat and others then
Chalk drawings of beige
Rounded hills rising to high
Mountains which decades
Later I see in California
Just as I drew them
Back long ago so
I am thankful my
Old art teacher
Took the time
To interest
Us in art
History
Seeds
That
Sprouted
In my mind
Growing over
The years visiting
Art museums seeing
Originals of what in the
9th grade were photos
And slides in a class
Where creativity
Was rewarded
Learning was
Encouraged
All due to
My art
Teacher
A woman
Who must
Have mused
On how we all
Would turn out
In our lives as she
Often shook her head
Sighing over crossed arms.