Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Magnetic” by Patricia Pace.

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Magnetic

By Patricia Pace

You don’t need to tell a class of six year olds twice
to line up for a lesson outdoors
on a late Spring afternoon
to learn the points of a compass.

We each claimed our own small circle
of paved sunlight,
our thin, bare arms all set
to be the wobbly needle.

“North!” was the low school behind us.
“South!” was the flagpole in front.
“East!” was the wing of our classroom
and “West!” was the lined parking lot.

Obediently, I spun and pointed,
spun and pointed, spun and pointed,
an uncertain little dervish
admiring the twirl of my skirt.

I only knew later,
that this game of looking beyond
the moons of my fingertips
was a lesson in leaving,

and far away from the four corners of the schoolyard
where other children are dizzy with learning,
it had been the more important lesson
in going home.

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Copyright © Patricia Pace

Patricia Pace resides in Newmarket, Ontario. Her poetry is inspired by just about anything that dents her consciousness. She loves to garden, paddle a canoe, and play badminton. She cuts her own bangs.

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