Ninth Grade Algebra

Every night with Dad, after supper, at the kitchen table.

I am in tears as he tries to explain the problem.

I say "That's not the way Sister said to do it."

He always got the answer, but it didn't count,

Because that wasn't the way Sister said to do it.

Sister, leaning against the blackboard, saying "You make me tired"

to the girls.

Flirting with the boys.

My friend Monica always understood the problems,

and how to solve them.

I called her every night, saying "I don't get the homework."

And she explains it to me.

After a few weeks, her Mother started saying

"Monica is eating dinner now, she can't come to the phone."

I am doomed.