New Poetry by Kathryn Guelcher

Contradiction

Lauren is exactly the student who apologizes then

asks a question she should know the answer to

by now. So when I asked them to circle

contradictory imagery on a copy of Strange Fruit,

and she said, “Sorry, what’s imagery?”

I was not surprised.

She who is pretty and small and

who sometimes calls me Mom and often

fights to pass and pay attention.

After we watched Billie Holiday’s 1939 rendition-

heartfelt, courageous, and defiant in that white only club-

someone else in class noted the slowness of the singing.

And it was Lauren whom I overheard casually impart

that the drawn out pace of the performance might

reflect the lynching itself,

that such killing does not happen mercifully,

“But, I mean, I don’t know,” she finished.

And her audience had not truly been listening.

- Kathryn Guelcher 2012




In addition to being a mother of three, Kathryn has been teaching high school English in a suburb outside of Chicago for 12 years.  This is Kathryn’s second appearance at Bluepepper.