Miss Arbuckle taught seventh grade
She hid her lips against her teeth:
her bottom like the ace of spades
was guarded by the virgin queen
Miss Arbuckle wore thick-soled shoes
blue dresses with white polka dots
She followed and enforced the rules:
what she was paid to teach she taught
She said that Wordsworth liked the woods
that Blake had never seen a tiger
that Byron wasn't always good
but died in Greece a freedom fighter
She gave her students rigid tests
and when the school let out in June
she painted rings around her breasts
and danced by the light of the moon