i just can’t imagine
a day without words,
blinded by a burka,
unable to read,
children at my feet,
a whip near my back.
i won’t imagine it,
but instead relish
the freedom i have
to show everyone
just who i am.
education
Far-Reaching
They were thrilled and shocked
to learn that tele– means
far-reaching.
searching for a real understanding,
they argued their point.
Alas, the word wizard won
as we evaluated,
in snippets of excited
teacher-assisted talk
along our educational continuum:
television, telephone, telepathy
The light bulbs sprung up
over their heads
and they shuffled out the door,
ready for another hour
of new, far-reaching words
they would learn along the way.
Differences
he is five like her
reaches to hold her hand
offers her bits of his lunch
and asks why
there are no dinosaurs on Mars
a moment after asking
what’s a planet?
he’s never been here before
nor read a book about Mars
or planets
doesn’t know what i mean
when i say, let’s visit this exhibit
i watch them chase each other
up and down escalators
she a little mixture of bossy, shy,
him thrilled and ever-curious,
and i think
how different their wealth of knowledge
must be,
how unaware they are
of each other’s differences.
Essay
Can I write a long essay
instead of creating a PowerPoint?
should I hear words such as this
when writing, writing, writing is my life
and that is all he’s asking to do
and all that I’m denying him?
Yes I should, because I am building
twenty-first century learners
who know how to create action buttons
and add in Googled graphics
transitions that pop and sparkle,
and change the colors of their fonts.
Yes, these are the important skills
that will carry them into English 101
where they will sit amongst 600 others
and struggle to understand thesis,
paragraphs, critical thinking that I,
with this PowerPoint, have denied him.
Mole
you are a cancerous mole
on otherwise flawless skin
appearing from nowhere
but settling in with a vicious sting
as if you have always belonged.
perhaps you have been there
hiding beneath scabs and
thin strands of golden hair,
waiting in the depths of tissue
to release your venom.
now you haunt my fingers
as they try to dance across
the once-smooth place you’ve
chosen to poison. but i know
that you won’t be here long.
i swallow the thought of your release
with these pills of gratitude
that i have purchased without you knowing.
you may have sneaked into my life,
but your exit will be quick and painless.
The Wall
how can i make you see
that with bricks stacked up
one by one in your way,
that with no bulldozer
or sledgehammer, you will
have to pull them down
one by one, tossing them
to the ground and climbing
over the remainder of the wall
that keeps you here?
i wish i could actually build it
and you could actually climb it
break it
take it with you
but i can’t. i can only offer
the parts you will need to
assemble your own hammer,
your own destructive machine.
and i can only hope that you will
take the time to put the parts
together and break through the wall.
Cotton
Try stuffing cotton in,
then maybe you could hear me better,
because even when I SHOUT!
you turn away and talk.
I have a bag right here,
fresh from the store,
shorn from the greatest
polyester plant in China.
Perhaps if I sent you there,
where students must stand
at silent attention when the
teacher enters the room,
and crowd into one hundred
lecture-style desks lined up
like building blocks in their
echoed cave, you would listen.
But for now, let me take a
piece of polyester-cotton ball,
one for each ear, so at the very least,
I won’t have to listen to you.
Twenty Clicks
with twenty clicks
and a bowlful of anticipation
i await the shoes
that will take her
farther than my words
ever could,
even when i walked
alongside her jagged steps
and plucked her words
from the page into my memory.
i can already see them on her feet:
perfect and smooth, the bone,
perfect and smooth, the metal.
and her face? a picture
of deference wrapped up
in an ever-polite smile.
with twenty clicks
and a mouthful of anticipation
i await the shoes
that will take her
farther than my words alone
could carry her.
Advance Notice
with these words
that you think harmless
you have set the tone
for weeks of mediocrity.
thank you, however,
for letting me know
with advance notice
what not to expect from you.
Wild Waves
in wild waves they come
splashing me with sticky, salty skin,
throwing me into the undercurrents
of what they think is right.
i stand on the shore facing their storm,
waiting for the moon to send the tide back,
their glistening white foam
tickling my toes with bubbles and warmth.
they push and pull and topple seashells onshore,
their distant fatherly clouds pounding down,
and they lap, lap, lap the sand at my feet,
not always waiting for my command.
in wild waves they come to my beach,
and though i try to clear the sticky salt,
it seeps in, breathes through my skin,
and together we intertwine our arms and swim.
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