This is about the first time I met a student who was different.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When I walked into my first
high school English class
as a teacher, my eyes
were drawn to a girl
whose legs were covered
in tattoos and whose face
had so many piercings
it looked like a Christmas tree.
I wondered what the heck
I was doing there.
She scared me!
For her first essay
she wrote about
how family was very important
to her and how she
didn’t get along
with her mom and stepdad
so went to live
with her boyfriend’s sister
and now has to work
full time.
One day she came in
with a new tattoo
on her arm that looked
like Japanese calligraphy.
“What does that stand for?”
I asked her.
She answered simply,
“Family.”
She didn't scare me anymore.
15 comments:
as the old adage goes- don't judge a book by it's cover. so true!
This is a poignant portrait of the girl and her aspirations for family.
I so agree with what lucy said!! Don't judge a book by its cover indeed!!
Great story. Sometimes in life we do meet people who have interesting ways to "shock" us!!
Also, thank you so much for visiting my poetry site on Livejournal! :)
I enjoyed reading your poem for it brought back memories of my first days of teaching when my students seemed so unknowable. What a gift to be a teacher. May you find many such lovely poems!
when I read this, what acrossed my head was exactly the same as what lucy said.
you definitely can not judge people from their looks.
thanks for visiting my SS.
Things are, indeed, not always what they seem.
Very cool piece! I look at tattoos as just another art form, as just another way to express oneself. True, they’ve had a bad rap, but they're evolving in the world just like we are are :-)
It's so easy to dismiss someone who doesn't conform. But history is littered with eccentrics and non-conformists who have made this world a better place
how touching! I really like how you expressed it and the last bit...I have been peeking around and all of your blogs are wonderful!
excellent story and lesson
we come up against something that we fear, or doesn't make sense to us, or we have pre-concieved ideas about... feeling like we can't relate, and then we see/realize that we can usually find something we have in common.
i am sure i have read this before.. sometimes i think that some of us create an image, visually or with acerbic attitudes,, as a barrier,, to cause all of those who are not willing to put in enough effort to see thru it- out....
seems like you made it in,, at least with this girl...
Diversity and bias - two intriguing topics and an excellent approach.
Wouldn't it be neat if she knew that she made that kind of impact on you, that you wrote about her? What a wonderful story!
Great story. It shows the heart of the girl inside. It takes a special heart to see that.
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