SIBYL

In grade school
only some of the information
excites the learner,
like learning the origin
of the barber pole,
the practice of leaching
our first confrontation
with voluntary bleeding.

And discovering Miss Astor,
a real person in history,
not merely a derisive term
to insult someone’s
pomposity.

Or syllables,
that intermediary
between letters
and words,
a single sound
standing alone,
open or closed.
Syllable, I say it again,
noting its similarity
to sibyl.