Teacher Nightmare

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Smokler and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, 55.5.A.

I haven’t formally been a teacher since June, but someone forgot to tell my subconscious.

The other night, I dreamt that I was in a classroom again, one that looked familiar, yet out-of-time. It was carpeted, with the kind of dingy, late-’80s/ early-’90s wall-to-wall I used to see in so many South Carolina classrooms, some indecipherable greenish or bluish or grayish color.

The desks were in rows, glossy but faded tan and brown faux-wood tops.

And the students were out of control.