Silent Night

The newspaper shows
A photo of a herdsman
in Afghanistan

I can see his breath
As he crouches by a fire
And warms his fingers

While village elders
And American solders
Meet and talk nearby

I think of the cost
in lives, energy, money
to make this meeting

where global interests
of power, religion, war
and peace intersect

where so much desire
has descended upon one
man warming his hands

This Afghan herdsman
and I aren't so far apart
We want the same thing

The peace that comes with
A warm place by the fire on
A cold winter night

Education Yakuza

I know when I teach
There are things that must be taught
Which the state mandates

As a rule of thumb
About seventy percent
Belongs to the state

And thirty percent
Belongs to me and I don’t
Know who’s thumb it is

Maybe if I don’t
Give the state its percentage
And try to short them

They’ll cut off my thumb
Like Japanese Yakuza
And wrap it up nice

And send it to my
Students - a message not to
Trifle with the state

So if I see some
Wise guys in the school hallways
I’ll just play it cool

and make sure that they
notice a multiple choice
test on my clipboard

and not the writing
my students generated
yesterday about

standardization
as the worst enemy of
creativity