That 70s Poem

It took 50 years to perfect.

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I wrote almost all of this poem I'm going to tell you about in high school for an English class. I tossed it off in a trice. I was never quite satisfied with it. There was one word that didn't sit quite right with me. But it was a class assignment: good enough for government work, right?

I got a B, which rankled since I usually got straight A's in English.

It occurs to me that grade B, which taught me two valuable lessons, may not have been entirely coincidental. So gather round and I'll elucidate.

Catholic High School Girls in Trouble

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I attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic high school in Poughkeepsie, NY, for my freshman and sophomore years.

My homeroom teacher was also my English teacher. I won't name him because I had a minor #metoo-ish moment when he told me that my peasant dress was "very provocative." Ew.

I was friends (strictly due to proximity) with a girl in my homeroom named Ann. Her last name began with "Lu," as did my maiden name, so we sat next to each other. Otherwise, if her last name had been Corrigan, for…