Bernadette Steel sent out of mental maths

to see Miss Arrowsmith

too dumb to do sums

and me sat at the front of the class

Sister Francis scratching fractions on the board

the numbers jumping around like frogs

in the jars from biology earlier

before the chloroform cotton wool ball

dropped and that girl

I can’t remember the name of now

fell off the science stool

crashed to the floor in an epileptic fit

and the frogs all went quiet

as Sister shouted

don’t let that child swallow her tongue.

Rachel Burns lives in County Durham. Her debut collection, My Last Address, Horses, Horses, Horses, is published with Broken Sleep Books. She was awarded a DYCP Arts Council Grant in 2023. She won the Classical Association Poetry Prize in 2026. She was placed second in The Julian Lennon Prize for Poetry 2021 and second in the Disabled Poets Prize 2024. Her poetry has been widely anthologised, including COAL Smith/Doorstop and North Country, Saraband. Rachel has facilitated poetry workshops for The Ginkgo Prize, Tees Women Poets, The Writing School and Creative Future. Her pamphlet, A Girl in a Blue Dress, is published by Vane Women Press.

Main photo by John Lavin.