Pairings Matted Set - This open edition print and poem set is matted and ready to frame. The matted size is approximately 14 x 18 inches.

Philip Conkling’s accompanying poem . . .

One Room School

In a simple one-room school house
Ten earnest scholars studied forty-eight states.
They rounded the globe of their small island,
And easily navigated the open fields
To mossy trails, down to the beach
Collecting ballast stones carried from afar
To bring back to their classmates
When the sea connected them to the world.

Then, one year, when no new teacher came
The women and children went ashore for school.
Without the women and children, the store closed.
Without the women, children and store,
The mail boat could not operate.
Without the women, children, store and mail boat,
We learned this bitter lesson:
Schools are the glue that hold communities together.