What I Don’t Know

My teacher, Miss Freeland,

is singing

at the Shrine

along with famous

opera stars

from all around the country

in a play called

Madame Butterfly.

I’ve never heard of that play.

“Most everyone’s heard of Madame Butterfly,”

Mad Dog says.

How does that

singing plowboy know something I don’t?

And how much more is out there

most everyone else has heard of

except me?

April 1934