Wednesday, January 2, 2008

3WW for January 2, 2008

3WW words for January 2, 2008

button luck pretend

Just a little bit of my day that stuck in my mind.
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January 2, 2008 Block 3

Josh comes up to me,
a pile of papers
in his hand,
“I’m cleaning out
my notebook. Can
I throw all these
poems away?”

Every day I make
copies of and read
a poem to my students.

I think of Billy Collins’s
“I Chop Some Parsley While
Listening to Ed Blakey’s
Version of ‘Three Blind Mice’”
and Jack McCarthy’s words
about his son,
“Just before he died, I heard
him cry,”
and Kaylin Haught’s “God Says Yes
to Me” sitting in the bottom
of the garbage can
and I say, “No!” to Josh.

The trees outside
my classroom window
are shaking themselves
of snow
like puppies
after a bath.

Josh, cute as a button, slinks
back to his seat and threads
the rings of his notebook
back through the holes
in the papers

not even pretending
to understand his crazy
English teacher,

having no idea
how lucky
and rich he is.

I glance outside;
the sun is now painting
lemon stripes on the white birches.

I catch Josh’s eye
and smile.
He shrugs his shoulders
and closes his fat notebook.

11 comments:

lissa said...

Collecting poems like collecting pennies - I like that idea.

I guess one could stay attached to printed words more than the ones in their heads.

I really like this part of the poem:
The trees outside
my classroom window
are shaking themselves
of snow
like puppies
after a bath.


Have a wonderful week.

a mouthy irish woman? ridiculous! said...

realization of "riches"? will come in the memory he has of his english teacher. the one who "made" him keep those poems. he'll comes across that "fat notebook" about 20 or 30 years from now. when he's already forgotton what true, umblemished, creativity is like. until he opens that note book and then he'll smile. fantastic post.

Anonymous said...

Hi! i just tried to leave a comment, but I got a message saying blah..blah.. anyway, if my comment comes up twice, you can delete one of them!

I really like this poem! It would be great in an educational journal. Great stuff.

Richard Wells said...

good poem and good for you.

deathsweep said...

Now that's a day to recall!

Anonymous said...

Wish someone collected my poems..:D

PJD said...

There is beautiful simplicity in the images. This is a poem I would hand out and encourage students to save if I were an English teacher.

Happy 3WW, a day late.

little wing writer said...

so very beautiful...i like how you brought the outside inside as you described your day...

TC said...

This was sweet.

Tumblewords: said...

He's a lucky boy. I like the way you deal with students and watch nature - a combination of truths.

Bone said...

You use truly beautiful language to paint the scene outside.

I never understood most of my crazy teachers, either, at the time :)

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