just take two words
something plus something
combine them together
in a mix of machinery
(metaphorsimileassimilation)
and you have yourself a poem.
Example:
my phone is a bleeping cockroach
hiding in the closet
all day long
creeping out on vibrating legs at night
and flashing its bleary eyes
at me when i open the door
and release it to freedom.
you may think i have wool
that blinds me from your version
of reality. but i pulled that back
ten years ago with my degree,
so don’t think you can
blindfold me again, as you do them,
the bleating sheep who wander
in their field of frustrated naivete.
i will pull it back, this wicking wool
that hides your response in
its porous, scratchy fibers. and i
will see the truth for what it is:
without the wool, you have no cover
for your reckless requirements, just as i
have no reason to cover my knowledge
with the cries of your freshly sheared sheep.
when it was just us,
your birdlike chatter sounded
like a jungle symphony of beauty,
your words dripping with inquiry,
your passions intense with dedication.
now, bright new birds have invaded
our once-peaceful jungle of language,
and cacophony blinds my ears,
stings with acrid haste my tongue,
sends us spinning to the canopy, lost.
i hope that we can find the place
somewhere between the lowest and highest limb
where the movements of your symphony
will smooth out our tumultuous cacophony,
so that together, birdlike, our song’s lyrics
will draw out the best voices in all of us.
i glide in and out of rooms all day
up and down, around they sway
as many lessons as elementary
undefinable in secondary
my students laugh when they see the same
lesson with a new text, new name
same teacher, different class
how my day zips by so fast
two, three, even four times
the same faces make these rhymes
teachers vary, steps add up
soon I am without enough
i can’t keep the pace that I have set
a new brain is what i need to get
never enough time, patience, love
for all that they need to think of.
he holds it up proud as a parent
perfectly cut into a blue rectangle
it fits behind the glossy plastic
he grins his jolly-Jun grin
and though he drives me crazy
with his grumbling questions
and loud arguing voice
(“we can’t whisper to argue!”)
he follows me home,
makes it into the dinner conversation,
and with my words,
his actions,
has made my day.
if you could see my day
for an actual day
(never just ten minutes)
ribbons of confusion
would dance across your eyes
(your feet might dance too)
you would see how it moves
from smooth and easy
(perfection at its best)
to a conglomerate of
chaotic preteen desire
mixed with teacherly sarcasm
you would see them
for who they really are
(see me for who I really am)
and you would know
you would actually know
when what I say is right.
but
i will accept your
harried commentary
(we are all harried)
if you can accept
a compliment that
everyone knows
everyone, everyone knows
(the one thing they hate to know)
is the truth.
they are amazing
amazing amazing
and some day
(if you could see my day,
my actual day)
you, too, will know this.
it’s nice to hear a bit of cheer
when sometimes darkness chimes
to know a student can be prudent,
despite the wrath, choose the right path
i am beguiled by what was worthwhile
the mighty pen led him in
now med school awaits his tools
i hope one day he’ll come to say
that education is the way.
she begged me to read
the private words
(what would she discover?
what did she want to know?)
i had to remind her
of her age, her attitude,
her focus on the future
(even if it’s just tomorrow)
she’ll forget by then.
and the words? they’ll
still be there, waiting for
the day when someone
other than me is
ready to pry open the book
and discover the
window to my soul.
amidst the chaos
of this day
(or any other)
i have missed a milestone
that even with pictures
i will never
be able to replicate
it is not the first
(nor the last).
it tears at
my heartstrings,
a reminder of
all i have lost
with everything
i have won.
i wait for the day
when what i’ve won
will fill the void
(the interminable
guilt-ridden void)
that encompasses
all i have lost.
i knew what i had
held within my hands
(held right before my eyes)
in perfect amazement
how perfectly you
mesmerized them (me)
now i stand to the side
awkward and disappointed
holding back tears
as i ache for what we had together
(what your light shined
upon me, upon them)
she will never know this.
only you and i could
possibly understand
the perfect harmony
held within our hands
that they (we) will
have to live without.
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