PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

The Old Blackboard.

Walking down into town through to the market place I saw many an old piece of what I myself would have called junk and thrown away. Then something caught my eye I saw this old blackboard. It reminded me of the blackboards in my old school. A trellis that pulled out to hold the blackboard and the blackboard that sat on two pegs. At school in my day on one of the pegs hung a piece of wet cloth. This is to wipe the chalked questions or arithmetic sums that were no longer needed. It was the board where the teacher wrote out the early beginnings of my English instruction. One of the other pupils or I would be asked to wipe the board clean, this we did with the damp rag. The board brought back so many memories that I decided to buy it. The man that sold it to me delivered it to my home after he had finished his business at the market place.

I placed the blackboard and the trellis in my front room and did not think about it for a few days. On going in to the front room to water the plants I noticed some writing on the blackboard. The handwriting was my own I recognised it from my far off school days. (I must pay attention.) I had written this all over the board. Then I heard a voice distinctly say, “Pay attention Shaw.” I was by now in a very disturbed state of mind a blackboard that wrote words from my long ago schooldays and a voice telling me to pay attention. Sitting facing the blackboard I watched as a damp cloth appeared in the air and wiped the board clean. I was now paying attention. Writing appeared on the board; “Shaw explain the theorem of Pythagoras.” I was by now very much wanting to get a specialist to examine me, A doctor that would tell me that there is no such thing as a blackboard that can write and ask questions. I found myself saying, “ The sum of the square on the hypotenuse is the same as the sum of the square on the other two sides.” This is downright foolish I thought to myself. It is years ago since I was taught Pythagoras’s Theory. I can only vaguely remember the formula let alone put it into practise.

The blackboard fascinated me and I watched for hours as writing appeared and was wiped away for more writing or arithmetic to form on the board. History, Geography, Arithmetic, Spelling, with the occasional reminder of, “Shaw are you paying attention?” The natural history that the blackboard gave from itself was fascinating the board had great knowledge of all the plants and wild animals or as the board put it Fauna and Flora. I thought to myself the board is harmless but I had better get a second opinion as to its peaceful nature. I invited Her Majesty Queen Feeana to come to the house and see this wonderful blackboard that knew all of the answers. I sent a mental picture to Her Majesty and watched the writing on the blackboard until she came. The blackboard was in the middle of explaining Einstein’s Theory as her Majesty appeared. The accustomed blue flash of light the small whiff of smoke and there she stood as pretty as a picture. Her embroidered flowery dress as pretty as only a part of nature can be. Smiling she asked me what was so important that I called her. I showed Her Majesty the blackboard and asked her to watch it for a few moments. Writing appeared, “Shaw, can you not pay attention when I am giving a lesson?” then another batch of writing explaining the stars in the night sky, going on to the planetary system of our part of the milky way. “Your Majesty this writing goes on for hour after hour, it is as if one of my old teachers is trying to make up for the schooling that I lost as an evacuee in the last world war two.

Smiling again Her Majesty took out of her pocket her magic wand. “Come out of the blackboard Margerich I recognise you and the reason that you have changed yourself into a blackboard,” “Mr. Shaw and this house is and as long as Mr. Shaw lives under my own personal protection.” “I watched the man from the market deliver the blackboard and easel with its two pegs. I thought it might amuse my friend Mr. Shaw to have such a blackboard for a day or two it has certainly refreshed his memory. I am not going to punish you but I will give you this warning stay away from this house and all that might live in it, now be gone. A small man in a long black cloak ran out of my house and did not stop running until he was well out of sight. Her Majesty told me that Margerich was jealous of all of the fairy tales that I have written. He himself possesses all of the knowledge to write but he lacks the discipline that is needed to write word after word and make up a story.”

You will not see him again and as for blackboards I do not think that you will ever be tempted to buy one again Smiling Her Majesty left the same way as she had come a smile a flash of blue light and a whiff of smoke and I was alone again with my blackboard. No more writing has ever appeared on the board again and it is now replacing the one half of my garden shed roof that had developed a leak. A fitting end for a blackboard that has been used to teach so many children it is not; but it is still serving a useful purpose and that is the main thing.