2 by Ron Koertge

[Michael]

Koertge may be better known for his fiction for young adults
especially his novel Stoner & Spaz. But he is a poet of precise if
surreal imagination and a great sense of humor as well as wonder.:

First Grade
Ron Koertge

Until then, every forest
had wolves in it, we thought
it would be fun to wear snowshoes
all the time, and we could talk to water.
So why is this woman with the gray
breath calling out names and pointing
to the little desks we will occupy
for the rest of our lives?

Admission Requirements of U.S. and Canadian Dental Schools
by Ron Koertge

Is your furniture in mint condition?
Has the loathing settled down?
Do you have many commemorative coins?
Do you know what the lighthouse stands for
in poetry?
Do you regard "uppers" and "lowers" as versions
of the class struggle?
If you could snow, would you?
Could you wear a red hunting shirt rather than
the traditional white smock?
When someone murmurs, "But my first love
is the oboe," are you disheartened?
If you were a bird. what would be your wingspan?
If someone said. his gums were clandestine, would
you look forward to the drilling?
Do you know what makes bipeds wild with joy?
Could you be specific?