Death of a Student [Classic] (48 line poem)

This is perhaps the most ‘Alice like’ of my longer poems that I plan to include in my Alice-like narrative that connects my longer poems. As I’ve mentioned, the characters in the poems would become characters in the connecting story, with the Student from this poem being the main protagonist in the larger story, and the Teacher from this poem being the main antagonist.

In my mind, this takes place in an old schoolhouse full of boys — before girls were part of mainstream education. To make it more modern and approachable, I probably need to have some of the students be girls — even quite likely the main protagonist — which may require some wording tweaks to the poem.

NEW NOTE: My son recently used AI to movie-ize this poem. Link here: http://tomlewczyk.me/DOS.mov.

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“Three times three,” the Teacher said;
“Plus three times three,” He cried!
“Makes six times three,” a Student said;
And with those words, He died.

“Correct,” was all the Teacher said,
And looking rather glum,
He wondered how the answer could
Have come to One so dumb.

The teacher searched His memory —
“Six apples minus three,
“Plus four more apples added next,
“How many will there be?”

“Seven, Sir,” a small Voice said,
But Most stared in dismay
At First Boy slumped down in His chair
As Second passed away.

“Again correct,” the Teacher sighed;
Another question spew
As steady rage within Him built —
“What’s thirty minus two?”

Reluctant Students squirmed in shame;
All feared this certain death.
But Someone stammered “Twenty eight,”
And breathed His final breath.

By now, the Teacher’s face was red;
He spat a muffled curse;
He thought of answers and of deaths,
Not knowing which were worse.

But then the Teacher saw the truth
Though not the How nor Why —
That All who answered what He asked
Were instantly to die.

He brought forth question after next,
‘Til finally, He tired.
That left Him there with only One;
The Others had expired.

“I’m God!” He thought, “I rule the world!”
He eyed the single Child.
He leered, He sneered, He showed His teeth.
The Other only smiled.

He delved into His inner mind,
To find His very best,
To finish-off this Hanger-on,
To put Him to the test.

The Teacher shuffled, sorted, thought,
At last came up with one.
“Am I sure?” He asked Himself…
“Indeed,” and He was done.

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2021 comments:

• I’ve reverted some wording back to how it was originally written. Slight changes, but I’m prioritizing the ‘flow’ more than the exact words.
• Reading this over now, I’m thinking that MAYBE the poem needs another stanza near the end. It might wrap up too quickly, given the relatively long and wordy progression toward the final conflict.