education

Carry

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

as much as i hear what you say
i will never understand why.
how in any right mind
could five rooms full of
talking-back teenagers
ever compare
to the jubilant joy
of young children
dashing through the snow?

their voices carry
like songbirds emerged in winter,
shutting out all the
whipping wind’s hollowness.
yet,
you would rather be here,
trapped in our windowless dungeon,
feeding them the lines
you’ve spouted so many times?

i’ll take my two weeks
and carry them in my mind
on my forever vacation.
for now,
i will draw a zipper across my lips
and, for once, be polite.
after all,
this year cannot carry on,
and summer’s sun,
giggling girls,
and road trips
beckon my dreams
from your harsh reality.

Endless Arrays

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

this is what it could be like:
the drive along the curvy road,
the sleeping baby at home,
the seven of us occupying
every last seat in the van,
the mountains with their
endless array of snow,
our legs working their way
through drifts and down slopes,
the warming hut that
warms our hearts,
the children with their
endless array of happiness;
you here, the four of us together,
just as all families should be.

Giggling Circles

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

I was your age once
and when the teacher said,
Do your homework
and everyone sat
in giggling circles
of middle school talk,
abandoning all ambition,
I sat alone at my desk
and finished my assignments,
never once in three years
taking one home,
yet had a straight-A report card.

Perhaps that is why
I cannot relate to you,
finals coming down your pike
faster than the bullet train,
yet you sit in giggling circles
of apathy, no worries for home life,
your future, education passing
by before you can hold out your ticket.

I wish you could see yourself
ten, fifteen years from now,
remembering (forgetting) this time.
Perhaps you would look back
and wish you had taken
your seat on that train that passed,
or perhaps you will still sit
in giggling circles,
unaware of all that you have missed.

Public Library

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

Dear Self-Absorbed Republicans,

Thank you once again
for denying public interests
and literacy
and all that is good
to us lower-class citizens
who can no longer use
the “public” library
that you voted down.

Go ahead and take your
free cards in
so you can stock up on
rated R movies
ignoring the masses
that surround you
and can no longer
check out thirty-three books
a week for our children
to benefit from.

One day,
just like Karl Marx predicted,
we will rise up
and show you that,
despite your measly offerings,
we are still strong,
still united,
and always willing
to fight our way to the top.

Grateful

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

i doubt i can write this
in between hundreds of
papers piled up like
cow dung on my desk,
but i’ll try.

they’re entertaining,
to say the least,
almost as good as
the television show
i’m about to watch
or the burlesque show
that my husband and i
enjoyed last weekend.

but not quite enough
to make a week night
pleasurable, inundated
with extra work, reminding
me just how grateful i
need to be that only occasionally
must i succumb to others’ realities.

Forty Nine Degrees

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

the only time
forty nine degrees
can send thrills
instead of chills
is when
the principal’s voice
enters our classrooms
with a message
that sends even
the teacher’s arms
into the air
amongst jubilant screams
from the students:
“Early dismissal.”
Now that’s the way
to start a Monday.

Cheeks

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

just as my students pull
like a dead weight
at the back of my brain
she looks up
her four-year-old cheeks
as smooth as innocence
and whispers,
“Mama, I wish
you didn’t have to work.”

i can’t hold them back
but she studies my family tree necklace
as the salt drips down
my thirty-two-year-old cheeks
as rough as pain
and whispers,
“I love you so much, Mama.”

and it is about all i can do
it is about all i can do
it is about all i can do
holding her
without words
her cheek against my cheek
is about all i can do.

Pastured Cow

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

black and white
today, yesterday
calm and fright
there is no gray

a pastured cow
a startling contrast
the future now
my mind the past?

i take away
i give it back
they sway and sway
with words attack.

tomorrow is now
and blindingly bright
this pastured cow
shall see the light.

Idiom (Idiot!)

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

you have taken the cake
on an already black-letter day
putting your foot in your mouth
and ruining every cliche.

it’s raining cats and dogs
but you beat around the bush
i wish the cat had my tongue
instead you’ve turned shove to push.

i’m about to blow my top
because you’ve gotten out of hand
your idiom (IDIOT) won’t stop
but I am not a yes-woman or man!

you have worn out your welcome
I’m not wet behind the ears
you may think I’m wishy-washy
but you’re jumping the gun on your tears.

Flashes

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

flashes of light
taking the night
flashes of day
take me away

flashes of pain
oh the disdain
flashes of angst
on temples bang

flashes of now
pounding my brow
flashes of then
coming again

flashing frustration
on this situation
flashing impatience
removing my patience

flashes of light
taking my night
flashes of day
take me away.