Gum on the Ceiling

I.

Gum on the ceiling.

gum on the walls.

Stuck there for years.

II.

I wonder how

the teacher before

failed to see them

hanging up there

like frozen tears.

Kids can get rowdy.

Kids can get playful.

            A trick here,

            a trick there.

Doesn’t take much

to entertain their peers.

III.

Maybe it was a few

clowns in the class

waiting when the teacher

turned her back.

They spat it on the walls.

They threw it up above.

It stuck like glue.

IV.

They must have laughed

or snickered,

 or did something to get a teacher’s

attention.

But that teacher

didn’t look up.

even if

the rest of the class did.

And never knew

the joke was on her.

V.

So here I am,

           a new teacher in this class,

scraping gum

and gummy bears

from the white panels

and lights of the school-room

ceiling.

Here I am,

wondering:

            Will I be smart enough

to look up there

            when the class clowns

begin to snicker

for their peers?

            Or will I not see

that the joke’s on me?

My fate is with

that gum on the ceiling.