At A Conference Entitled Poem by Charles Wax

Best Practices in the Classroom
Principal Harry Zundel was instructed by
Superintendent Bertha Happ
to place an aquarium in each classroom
to uplift the spirits of the children
thus creating serenity,
then, perchance
learning.
One day Irving Tennenbaum,
a failed Rabbinical student…
well, the endless study of Torah
had induced sadness, madness, melancholia, etc.,
said, “Lillie Rush swallowed another goldfish…
Tillie.”
“Not Tillie, ” I said, “the one with the brilliant colors.”
“The same.
I thought after she devoured Samson
that was the last of her obsession.
I thought to expel her,
but where?
She’s troubled,
I won’t say she’s not,
but, still, she’s searching
for a way to reside in Holiness...
we all are, Bernstein.
To come to exist in that state
is our deepest purpose.
because The Almighty has imbued us all
with that desire.”
“Tillie was my favorite, ” I sighed.
“Like a little spinning rainbow.”