all you need to know:
we legally have this kid
(it’s not your business)
Shut Your Ego
all you need to know:
we legally have this kid
(it’s not your business)
choices
Day 24
my son shares his home
with diagonal slices
of sweet plátanos
Pennies on the Pound
was this small reward
worth 200 work hours?
yes, yes, yes, fuck yes.
Mount Bierstadt
first: the moon and sun
second: 8.5 miles
third: a fourteener
fourth: pomapoo strength
fifth: learning to climb mountains
sixth: altitude high
Since Second Grade
best friends forever
no continent can destroy
the love they have built
Even the Sunset Says So
Is there a prettier Denver sunset than this ‘red’ sunset over teachers rallying to strike??
I don’t know what you were thinking, DPS. Did you not realize you are a district in a union-led hotbed of liberals???
Did you think we were going to sit down and shut up??
We’re going to rally. We’re going to win.
Even the sunset says so.
Greener Pastures
you are not what i thought
and it’s tearing me up
though for once i won’t
say a word about it
but i am disappointed
having to come home this way
trying to shed the mood
that infiltrates my daughter
her exhausted screams
echo through the house
so that i cannot hear
the others’ gurgling happiness
in my soul i reach for her
but my hands, my arms are here
because i’m burned right now
and she’ll sizzle at my touch.
it’s not you, but my blindness,
my greener pastures journey
that has led me right back to
where i never wanted to be again.
as if she knows this, she calls out
in panting gasps, searching for
an answer, a reason, that neither
of us will ever be able to find.
I Could Have Skipped This
I could have skipped this
but then I would have missed
the sunrise glistening
like a sparkling curtain,
opening today’s show
(carried by wind that
pushes against me, a
wall I will fight now
for the pat on the back
later today)
I could have skipped this
but then I would have missed
the absences she’s had,
the plight of the struggling student
who so demurely
will not ask for help
(but will accept the
help I offer her)
I could have skipped this
but then I would have missed
the smiles on their faces
as they took turns riding
the scooter round and round,
the perfect homemade ice cream
dripping happiness from their chins,
(the memory that I created
with a spontaneous choice)
I could have skipped this
but then I would have missed
the chance to make
a lesson that will enlighten
them, make each of us stronger,
and create the collaboration
that guides them to the
success every student deserves.
I could have skipped this…
but then I would have missed
the life that I have chosen
because I didn’t skip this.
Carte du Jour
what’s the difference? simple, really.
with you, everything is vague and humorous.
with them, direct and consequential.
for me, I would rather take my chances
with a small taste of brutal honesty than
with a whole menu of unknowns.
it amazes me how they, having never
been that close to me, seem to understand
that better than you, who have
opened (and closed) the menus on the food
we share so many times that you’ve
forgotten that I have been here all along.
perhaps you will notice my absence
(perhaps not). either way, I will be taking
delectable nibbles from the dishes they share,
throwing in my hot spices, my sweet vanilla,
and together we will create a carte du jour
that you might admire, but will never taste.
Admission
calling me out in front of them all
isn’t the way to get to the truth
because it’s more polite for me
(as my mother always said)
to admit nothing at all
than to lie to your face
your reaction is as ironic as if
you’d admitted me into your classroom
to run it one day (my way)
only for you to pat me on the back
and thank me for the gift
(the gift that in three years
you wouldn’t allow me to give you)
but I will seal my lips this one time
(though I admit you know me well)
and use the scapegoat I have stood by
all these months, tucking it in my
pocket in case of further inquisitions,
though you and I both know why
I’ll (you’ll) never admit the truth.
Step Write Up 