Poetry

We first met in the Freshman Class


At Newark’s St. Benedicts Prep School


We sat at the back of the room


Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak





Father Damian was
taking attendance


Anderson-“Here”, Bryant-“Here”,


No problem so far


Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak





Down the alphabet he went


Leetch-“Here”,
Morris-“Here”


Getting closer to


Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak





On his face, little beads of sweat appear,


Rossner-“Here”,
Thompson-“Here”,


Almost down to


Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak





“Must be a misprint”, he thinks,


“W followed by a funny looking l,


And the next two names
look no better,”


Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak





With mercy, with compassion


I stood up, “v-woh-sheen-ski”


Hank stood up, “ voy-toh-vich”,


And Don stood up, “voo-eee-chock”





That’s the way we did it as Freshmen,


And 3 years later, many teachers later,


We’re still standing up to say


“Wᴌosinski, Wojtowich, and Wujciak”