Teach Like a Champion

ten months ago, dead:
my heart, when you told me that
(teaching is in me)

but you couldn’t teach
you could only criticize
i’m phoenix rising

with hate, you inspired
with love, i put students first
and guess what? we win

a perfect lesson
fits into care and action
not criticism

if only you’d see:
guide a better tomorrow
we’d want to stay here

but we’re not all strong
or feathers-renewable
with love, you could win

with love, we will win
my students and i? winners
please don’t burn feathers

tap your inner soul
for god’s sake, read the right book
allow us to fly

The Real Common Core

staff development:
the after school detention
for over-booked teachers

grading until ten:
another form of torture
i put myself through

tomorrow’s feedback:
priceless words that they’ll revise
i live, love for them

Eye of the Storm

after-death clean-out:
desk too big for any room
memories replayed

pictures old and new
as far back as pain will reach
childhood relived

my life: email eye
spying on my every move
wait for responses

girls spin through crying
once it was: feed me, change me
now? essay, read, bathe

single motherhood:
just one week, and not for me
(found him at nineteen)

rushed dinners, yelling
later: lawn, Where’s Waldo search
we’ll never find him

his day versus mine:
turmoil a different tune
loss and love, rebirth

how they bring me joy
after all the years and tears
how they bring me joy

Life. Love. Loss.

before dawn message
asks permission for my love
i’m awake, ready

my soul sister breaks
before the sun emerges
i’d give her my life

sleep is a present
unpresent in this week’s life
seven days of hell

he flies tomorrow
what if he doesn’t make it
in time for her death?

my girls play the wii
squealing with best friend’s pained joy
parents’ illness wins

and yet they smile
dress up in formal attire
perfect for their game

living life scares me
as i list all my boyfriends
kindergarten up

ask him to recall
if he searched for love like me
or found it at home

he cannot answer
too consumed by coming grief
losing his mother

they will play all night
and go vacation their dreams
never knowing loss

that is what i want
no search for school boyfriends
just love at home. LOVE.

Cheers and Tears

longest week ever
ending with happy hour
tears still in ducts

Memorialize Him

because he came in
and wrote with us a class poem
when we were thirteen

because he’s your dad
forget the swallowed disease
because he made you

for twenty-eight years
your mom gave her life to him
because she loved him

because demons live
even if we wished they’d die
that is why, that’s why

because he deserves
what a father, husband should
he’s not forgotten

because you found him
in your heart, you always knew
that you would find him

the mother of three
raised at home with two parents
he was one of them

because of our youth
the car, recording our voice
and all the journals

he’s in every one
saw through demons to love you
because he loved you

you are my best friend
and he made you, he made you
that is why, that’s why

The Other Side of Sorrow

before dawn alarm
lesson planning just can’t wait
always on my mind

six a.m. invite
curly-haired house of welcome
piano and grins

inside the lead walls?
plea for more books, print, copy
teach the world’s kids

order sympathy
on an unsigned card of hate
my heart sees flowers

psychologist’s help
ends with failing soccer star
begs for a grade change

policies can’t write
or change the screaming patient
that closes my day

teary, manly hugs
from those arms that ask for more
doctors don’t listen

at dark i drive home
day wholly spent on others
to hear more sad news

such is adult life
no more hide and seek for me
everything exposed

but how their eyes light
as they share their days’ stories
must. remember. JOY

Timeless Love

class lined up by height:
Miss, take a picture! one shouts
only in my mind

competition wins
and timing controls the day
the high school life

if you find their joy
you will reach into their hearts
you learn to love teens

if you could see this
perhaps you would understand
just why i hate you

Pick Your Battles

a day in the park
as autumn weather moves in
cold ices my veins

sisterly battles
between friendships and trees
which one should i climb?

criticism blast
before Middle Eastern meal
battle of parents

which one should i choose
the oak dropping its acorns
or drought-dying maple?

a day in the park
full battle gear, war ready
at least we can choose

Freedom from Entrapment

four parents arrive
yet you steal my night from home
but girls were all smiles

left to eat pudding
and choose a later bedtime
they thought they were free

back-to-school-night blues
twisted in a different tune
through a child’s eyes