How I Make a Living

How I Make a Living

How I Make a Living

Richard A. Decker


i wake up at 2 am
get a glass of water and can’t stop thinking:

i hear about a student slowly losing their innocence
their reputation
i tell my students to capitalize their “I’s”

another student lost a figurine
and thanks me when i hand him the new one i bought last night
along with a gallon of milk and chips

i attend a meeting on new ways to teach reading
and go back to the classroom and teach students
to not throw erasers
to write their names on their work
to not slam doors
to put away their phones
to not bleat like goats

i read emails from parents
who are doing their best
as i wonder if i’m doing mine

i talk about literature and grammar
and tell students not to curse or draw on my desk
or themselves

a student complains about a 0 for missing work
and wants to put a quote on the board

i buy chocolate for a fundraiser
watch the school play
and cheer them on

students give me the finger in class
but say hello to me in the hallway

some make animal noises and writhe around in their desks
while others show me drawings they are proud of

students i don’t know say hello
students i don’t remember remember me
and my own students never say anything

i make coffee in the copier room
and breathe as a colleague asks,
“are you using the printer?”

i stay until 6:30 pm making worksheets
that end up getting swept off the floor by the custodian

i reverse out of a parking spot
with the dirty sign that leans to the right
my reward for winning teacher of the week

i get paid monthly
on the last business day

each day i do my best to make sense of it all
to make it worth it all

i’m in bed by 10 pm
i wake up a 2 am


Richard A. Decker
Poet & Teacher

Richard has been published in Moral Apologetics, Larry Ferlazzo’s opinion blog Classroom Q & A for Education Week, and in the Shenandoah Valley National Writing Project’s 2021-2022 More than Words. He has also presented papers at several regional Conferences on Christianity and Literature. He completed his M.A. in English at Liberty University in 2020 and received both the Outstanding Research Award and Outstanding Thesis Award; his thesis is titled Originality, Decorum, and Fantastic Sight in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot.

Photography by Marina Endzhirgli