On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance

It is human nature to desire to belong to a group just as it is human nature to reject that which is different from us. These two desires clash in Nezhukumatathil’s poem as the speaker tries to make sense of the experience of ostracism. The teacher’s “butcher[ing]” (Line 6) of the speaker’s name singles her out to her peers as someone who is not the same as they are. While the teacher “means well” (Line 5), he still holds the name in his mouth like a “sausage casing stuck / between his teeth” (Lines 7-8). The microaggression of the act is metaphorically noted by the “handprints / on his white, sloppy apron” (Line 9). The handprints suggest evidence of his guilt, and the sloppiness suggests his careless attitude. Moreover, the prior cleanliness of the classroom is tainted now, despite the “mopped floors and wiped-down / doorknobs” (Lines 3-4). The students are led by the example of their teacher, and perhaps the parents who “set out their clothes” (Line 20).

In a scene reminiscent of a horror film, the students collectively gawk at the speaker with their “icy blues” (Line 13). The mention serves to align the students with the scallop, a mollusk with multiple blue eyes.