A Chair Keeps the Floor Down

<p><em>A Chair Keeps the Floor Down</em> celebrates and honors the art of teaching through image-filled love songs to her students who often spin rather than speak. Through her poetry Susan chronicles her rich career as a special education teacher where she engaged in shared fields of discovery with children and families. Her craft of teaching began in adolescence when she tutored a young neighbor with a developmental disability and grew from there. Susan poems</p><p>are grounded in detail and rhythm giving language to the memory of her students many of whom could not speak for themselves.</p><p> </p><p>The collection is divided into two sections. In the first<em> Lately </em>Susan<em> </em>takes the reader on a journey into the classroom where the children come alive in vivid details :Nathan/ who loves the sound of milk cartons Sebastian /who finds the shape of a lamp in everything. Throughout this section she weaves in images from her dreams: In a dream/my father is alive with open arms/ mute little Henry/ suddenly has the word for run. In her poem Lockdown she</p><p>brings the reader into the very real day to day world of a teacher: two teachers/ huddled in a closet and in Without Regrets she poignantly describes the difficult job of trying to keep her</p><p>students safe after a rash of school shootings: I want to make promises /I can't keep/about saving these tiny children/who after the miraculous downpour /jump into puddles/ and watch their footprints /follow behind them.</p><p> </p><p>In the second section <em>Tell Me More </em>delves into Susan's passage into retirement.</p><p>In Imprint of Small Hands she explores the way the rhythm of her life has changed:</p><p>I move/from the staccato routines/ of a job to do/to a cat body/ fluidly rounding/into all the layers/yet to bloom. In At the Public Swimming Pool she reflects on joining a new community of peers We are writers and pagans/ lawyers and carpenters/ secretaries and healers...we are teachers/ who still teach/ and retired ones /who remember/ the beat of the classroom/with its adrenaline magic/and fatigue. As she discovers new routines she finds herself on buses and on streets still noticing the children girl with an eager mouth/puckering around/the sweet globe/ of a lollipop.</p><p> </p><p><em>A Chair Keeps the Floor Down</em> is a poignant and crafted collection of poetry which not only honors children and teachers but also gives tribute to the unfolding process of aging: I am 65/ still whirling/through air/and water/bare feet/curving around rocks/ to praise the ground.</p><p><br></p>