Mary Miller

Sometimes, I ask those in my workshops to allow themselves to remember intermittent moments in their lives: Those times when someone acts in a manner that soothes a wound, or touches one’s heart, or, resonates wit

h something beyond the personality. These moments of Grace are intended to support the expression of promise a person carries. One such moment involved the very decent human being Mary Miller, as she touched my shoulder. Her honoring of human dignity helped set a trajectory for me. As to the bit about her skirts, I don’t know…it came forward in writing the poem.

She, my fifth grade teacher,
an anomaly
in my world:
She respected children.

As she queued her
class for lunch, she
touched my shoulder.

First honest woman’s touch.

Whether the world found
Mrs. Miller attractive -
I did.

Present. Kind. Caring.
Honorable.

Seeing under her skirts.
I linked character and form.

©2008 Stephen Victor