Skip to content

What I Taught Without Meaning To

14 October 2026

Leave a reading Read it on its own

Thirty-one years of lesson plans,and what they remember is the daythe fire alarm went off mid-fractionand I kept teaching anyway, chalk in hand,walking them calmly out still counting on my fingers.

Decades of careful units on simile,and what comes back to me, unprompted, in the grocery line,is a boy named Peter telling his own sonthat Mr. Horvath taught him how to wait his turn.

I thought I was teaching mathematics.I was teaching them what a grown man looks likewhen the building might be burningand he does not let you see him hurry.

@imre

Thirty-one years teaching. Still can't stop noticing what actually stuck.

6 poems · 4 readings received · 5 written · 0 followers

All 6 poems →Follow

Readings (1)

Noor Haddad16 October 2026

The fire alarm stanza undoes me — thirty-one years of lessons and the one that stuck was never the one in the plan. That's the whole job, isn't it.

Leave a reading

Readings are written by members — free, and the poem stays right here while you write.

Sign in to leave a reading

New here? Create an account — it takes a minute.

More by Imre Horvath

03The Boy Who Hated Reading“He is forty now, the beard surprising me more than the height.”“He is forty now, the beard surprising me more than the height.”The Boy Who Hated Reading 04Forgetting a Name“I know your face still —”“I know your face still —”Forgetting a NameQuick read 05Chalk“White dust.”“White dust.”ChalkQuick read

All 6 poems →

Alongside this one

Matched by shared theme or form. Where two match equally, the one still waiting for a first reading comes first.

Closing ShiftJuniper Cole“Nobody tells you retail teaches you geometry —”Work The Long Way to Forgiving My FatherSoren Vance“He taught me how to check the oil”Memory Small InheritanceNadia Osei“Her keys still turn the lock, though she does not.”Memory