Princeton

by Bill Schofield

 

Mother always wanted me

to go to Princeton, though

we knew pretty early on

I was anything but Ivy material.

 

It was attention deficit disorder,

long before there was such a label,

which rendered me powerless

in the presence of words and numbers.

 

I thrived only on the sandlot,

baseball diamond and football

field, where word and

calculation counted little.

 

So I slouched along

burdened by her glaring

disappointment, striving

for some meager forgiveness,

shouldering the shame.

 

Then last week, driving

a back road toward Worcester

rounding a bend

the great white sign declared

“Entering Princeton.”

 

My first, smiling thought

as I crossed the town line,

 

Mother would be so proud.

 

 

Bill Schofield loves the  challenge of writing and the discipline required. He is retired from almost 50 years of teaching and building an organization that provides support to people with intellectual and physical challenges. Bill lives in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

Kristina Wentzell is a painter known for her vibrant colors and impressionist brushwork.  She received her BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art and has studied painting in France, Canada, and Australia. Kristina works in her home studio in Keene, New Hampshire. In the summers, she can be found traveling the roads of New England in the Happy Camper Mobile Art Gallery, a vintage 1966 DeCamp Travel Trailer converted to an art gallery on wheels. http://kristinawentzell.com/