My grade school music teacher
Was named Mrs. Stump
Or maybe it was Mrs. Stumpf
I’m not sure if there was an “f” at the end of it
I was a kid, and my memory is selective
And maybe is was Miss or maybe it was Mrs
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Ms

She drove a Trans Am On the hood was painted a large feathered,
winged, egg-laying vertebrate with a beak
Some might have simply called it
a bird
Specifically an eagle, or perhaps a hawk
I couldn’t say for certain
And I only know a little about birds
I went birding once and I liked it
It was more of a beginner’s guided 60 minute tour
where the local nature center supplied binoculars
For a $2 donation

Also I used to listen to bird sounds at night,
On a cassette that I checked out from my local public library
I don’t remember much except the common grackle

She got mad at me once during music class
Because I rolled up a piece of paper
And pretended it was a cigarette
She yelled for what seemed like an eternity
It wasn’t an eternity
Cuz If it was she’d still be yelling

Every week we got to pick a song for the entire class to sing
Like Yellow Submarine
I would raise my hand and request that we sing a song called Cat’s in the Cradle
Which is a really depressing song about a dad and a son
The dad ignores his son and is always promising the son more attention
But never follows through because he’s busy with work
And then when the son grows up and the dad is older and needs attention
And the kid has been conditioned his whole life to not receive any attention
So the tables turn and now the kid doesn’t have time for the dad any more And the dad probably dies, though I don’t know if the song mentions that
It was written a long time ago so I can’t imagine that the dad is still living
And I guess the lesson of that song is hug your kids

It’s a pretty harrowing song and I loved it when I was 8
I was probably a depressed kid
Wrapped up in a goofy awkward kid
I’m more comfortable in my own skin now
Even though that didn’t happen
until I was 40 or so
Still, that’s a good thing
And now that I think about it
I’m almost positive it was Stumpf