Guilty of crying at work (my contribution to National Poetry Month)

[maharetr]

I've just randomly read my way through Taylor Mali's poems. He's a teacher and a poet, and he's made me giggle, and cry and helped me move from being over-tired and slightly over-wrought to feeling far more settled and comfortable in my skin.

What Teachers Make...
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen...

Comments

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Watching that being performed yesterday on made me teary too

[babalon-93.livejournal.com]

oh, that is just beautiful!

[taselby.livejournal.com]

I love that piece.

[maharetr.livejournal.com]

Alas, work blocks what I'm assuming is YouTube, so I'm going to assume that a link to him performing said piece and flap delightedly in agreement.

Also, this, this:

I'm writing the poem that will change the world,
and it's Lilly Wilson at my office door.
Lilly is writing a research paper for me
about how homosexuals shouldn't be allowed
to adopt children.
I'm writing the poem that will change the world,
and it's Like Lilly Like Wilson at my office door.

She's having trouble finding sources,
which is to say, ones that back her up.
They all argue in favor of what I thought I was against.

And it took four years of college,
three years of graduate school,
and every incidental teaching experience I have ever had
to let out only,

Well, that's a real interesting problem, Lilly.
But what do you propose to do about it?
That's what I want to know.

And the eighth-grade mind is a beautiful thing;
Like a new-born baby's face, you can often see it
change before your very eyes.

I can't believe I'm saying this, Mr. Mali,
but I think I'd like to switch sides.

Like Lilly Like Wilson

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

It's times like that that balances out the ratbags students 4 to 1.