Your teacher is a calm vessel
of hugs and crafts,
the kind that when you ask her
every morning
can you help me make a crown
she smiles a real smile
and tells you that sounds
like a fun plan.
So even though our house
is now littered with them,
like the aftermath
of some royal bender,
I can’t bring myself to recycle them.
I even tried one on this morning
while I ate my cereal
and I understood it then,
the ritual of them,
as I sat a little taller
feeling unreasonably good.