poetry

Teaching is a Guest House

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

Modeled after “The Guest House” by Rumi

This teaching is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A surprise, a sadness, a frustration,
some momentary celebration comes
as an unplanned visitor.

Accept and accommodate them all!
even if they are a crowd of admin
who violently sweep your classroom
empty of its whiteboards,
Still, treat each guest respectfully.
he may be preparing you for
some new adventure.

The homeless student, the refugee, the defiant ones,
meet them at the door with a smile
and let them know they are welcome.

Be grateful for whomever enters,
because each has been sent
to make your life more than
a forgotten promise.

Faces

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

Modeled After “Cut While Shaving” by Bukowski

Faces

It’s never quite right, she said,
The way people judge,
the way they are two-faced,
Bright smiles for your face,
Nasty words behind your back

It’s never quite right when the stars don’t shine,
when you are stuck behind a swath of clouds,
when the only sight you can see is the nose in front of your face

It’s never quite right, she said,
to take the easy road of lying,
to be a spy, to blurt and feed lies on either side of your tongue,
to be the unreal you

I walked away from the mirror
onto the icy streets,
Faces everywhere,
too afraid to look at my own.

Games

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

he scored seventeen
has a scholarship waiting
asks to leave class now

the minimum score?
twenty-one for survival
thirty-six: perfect

not even halfway
to the level of knowledge
for college-bound kids

but he’ll play football
that’s all that really matters
money, money, greed

meanwhile, i teach kids
who spend hours reading words
that will take them where?

the depth of a poem
the silence of acceptance
knowledge lost in games

Pieceful Peace

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

red-letter day starts
with no meetings, extra plan
and ends with yoga

all baskets empty
week of copies, lesson plans
teacher’s piece of peace

students were pleasant
chess-club-induced quiet house
recharges my soul

soon they’ll bombard me
with high-strung voices of youth
different piece of peace

i’ll take the pieces
fit them into life’s puzzle
each day can bring peace

Twists and Turns

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

silent overturn
of a fragmented first day
shocked apologies

after thirteen years
of hearing broken English
poetry sounds bright

written by freshmen
whose voices i’ll discover
with this twist of fate

Catch Me a Moon

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

before dawn, i walk
full moon of icy danger
to be there for them

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/80f/11233611/files/2015/01/img_7126.jpg

classroom lit, open
first day, students new to me
i set standards high

phones, backtalk, shouting
first impression resistance
shake me to my core

after school begging
for schedule changes, fallbacks
they hate and love me

i missed my girls’ smiles
their good-morning kisses, hugs
to face this chaos?

slushy post-school walk
to their bright eyes, warm faces
lost in built-up play

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/80f/11233611/files/2015/01/img_7127.jpg

then, online ranting
plagiarizing grown student
demanding grade change

why you, and not them?
the question of my moon day
please… catch me a moon

make it bright like them
shining beyond snowy morn
lighting, guiding love

Enjoy Them

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

new year, back to work
meetings, trainings, pointless tests
(testing our patience)

no students today
semi-empty corridors
echo their absence

new resolutions
data, observations, goals
flood the teachers’ souls

i walk my mile home
with two six packs; ignore looks
(a friend’s thank-you gift)

girls are jubilant
a day alone with daddy
bright as this sunset:

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/80f/11233611/files/2015/01/img_7124.jpg

Life. Uncorked.

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

you’re coming back now
the truth lies behind bottles
wish i could break them

whispers and gossip
that you aren’t ready to face
the rest of your life

how will you swallow
whatever life’s bitter taste
and carry on, safe?

i would walk with you
but i think of empty rooms
how hollow life is

without a family
don’t know if you’re better off
(but i know they are)

all the same, it kills
i worry you’ll die like him
with bottle in hand

to keep it secret
no one will reach out to help
you burden yourself

we all burden this
this fear of speaking the truth
until lies kill us

let’s not speak of death
of morose new beginnings
i wish i’d brought hope

i would uncork it
let its elixir shape you
towards a drink-free life

Cry Babies

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

realization:
i’m halfway through motherhood
(though it never ends)

ten-year-old letter
brought me back to those first days
late-night crying babes

but ten years from now?
they’ll all be out of the house
i’ll cry, my babies

when i open it
will my heart be sad, or lost
or, at best, hopeful?

will i be relieved
to think of my youngest girl
sitting in my lap?

or devastated
because she no longer will?
oh how i love them

but i’m halfway through
they’re better skiers than me
(and everything else)

no more crying babes
just the lust for lost moments
that hurt us then, now

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/80f/11233611/files/2015/01/img_7116.jpg

Muse

/ lovizmytrio / Leave a comment

art lost in snowflakes
viral once meant an illness
now it equals greed