Not Baking

For the first time again in almost a month
I am substituting and teaching at a local High School.
The paycheck will surely be there this Friday next,
and I find myself tempted to substitute
teaching more often for that surety. Neither
my bliss nor my passion are engaged
for the pay I'm afforded as stand-in
for local educators. Neither do I need worry
about how to butter my bread because
this is work- a real job- and my paycheck
confirms that.

This is not baking. I'm hardly making anything
in the class but for a few students here and there
scratch their heads when I ask. Questions
when they want answers that they hadn't thought
to think, and I encourage them best I can
to continue. I'm not separating yolks from
albumens, not coaxing cream to bubble. There
are no tempering thermometers necessary here.
I have company when I wait for the bell
to ding, to indicate the time is up, but there are
no cakes when I open the door.

--Matthew Mercer