These Nights

I used to wake up
In the middle of the night
maybe once, to pee.

But now I’m awake
thinking about China and
children and Putin.

From the kitchen a
burglar or a new ice cube
makes a sudden noise.

I roll on my side
and close my eyes, pull covers
up close to my nose

and picture a cube
of new-born ice dropping with
a clunk in the tray.

Because when I wake
these nights, a burglar isn’t
my biggest worry.

Last Leaves

Yellow bellied tree

Holding on to his leaves as

The first snows blow in

Like a stubborn dog

Who won’t drop his bone to
Come in from the rain

Sauna

The bench creaks as I

Lean forward, drips of sweat

Painting the dry boards.

In the round dark spots

A roly-poly puppy

Gazes up at me

swimming in a pool

of soft soothing words and the

smell of fresh laundry.

I say, ‘Hi, pup’, and

We watch each other until
He drowns in my sweat.

Sometimes things click...

Sometimes things click.  Sometimes my class and I are spot on.  Everyone is focused, the message and the meaning are ripe, and the fruit is falling off the tree.  My students are eating it up. 

Funny thing is, these moments don’t usually occur during group work, independent projects, or lessons designed with multiple intelligences in mind.  They usually take place with me up in front of the classroom, and the kids at their desks facing me.  

The bell rings, and my students pick up their bags and head out the door.   I can almost see the thought-bubbles rising up and disintegrating over their heads.   A few kids smile and one or two might tell me how fun class was today.  But still, ‘poof’, ‘poof’, ‘poof’ go the pregnant thoughts in their brains.  They’re on to hallway relationships, unfinished homework, and the next teacher’s attempts to captivate their minds. 

It would have been one of those days in which I wondered about my own effectiveness as a teacher in spite of my passion.  But in my hands are pieces of paper that the students handed me as they left class.  It’s them, writing -   Questions.  Connections.  Ideas.  Thoughts about ways to solve the problems posed in my story.  Sometimes heartfelt responses, some brief, some organized, some with doodles.   These writings are professionally precious to me. With them I can gauge the understanding of my students, and shape the course of future lessons.  I can see who just needs the go-ahead to pursue a fantastic and unique project, who needs some reinforcement in order to grasp the concepts we’re getting at, and who has their own story to tell. 

This is one reason why my students write in class.   I value students writing not for preparation on a standardized test, but as a means of listening to and responding to them.  The conversation continues.  

Weeping Willows

There is a stand of willows on the shore
That have one wish in life and nothing more

For when I stand and watch them bend and sway
Especially upon a windy day

When dappled sea-borne clouds go tumbling by
I see the willows wave and hear them sigh

"Oh, to be a cloud and float so free!"
And then they weep - for it will never be.

And so beneath the willow trees I stand
and hold their teary branches in my hand

And tell the trees "You have no need to cry
For even though it’s true you cannot fly

Those dappled sea-borne clouds will soon be rain
For clouds by nature simply can’t remain

And you, dear trees that billow, bend and sway
Are pretty as the clouds and yet you stay."

And so it is in this world and the rest
We all are who we are, and that is best.

The 'Think-about'

I said, “You know, there are really only about six dates I want you to remember from this year, but I want you to remember them for the rest of your life.” That got them curious, so I wrote them down.

1215 – signing of the Magna Carta
1492 – New World and Old World meet – Columbus
1607 – First successful English colony at Jamestown
1776 – Signing of the Declaration of Independence
1787 – Ratification of Constitution
1861 – Civil War

“That’s it,” I said.

“What about all those other dates in our textbooks?” they asked.

“Even if you learned some of those dates, do you think you’ll remember them for the rest of your life?” I asked.

They said no.

And then I asked, “What about 1820? Do you know anything about 1820?”

They said no.

“What are we going to do? You don’t know anything about 1820! Or, perhaps you do. Look at this timeline. There are six dates and events on it. It looks like nothing was happening in 1820. Do you think that’s true?”

“Of course not,” they said.

“Look at this timeline! What do you know about 1820?”

They looked at the timeline. It took a few moments.

Then someone said, “It was before the Civil War.”

“YES!” I cried. “Yes. It was before the Civil War. You know that, because you know 1861 was the beginning of the Civil War.”

“And if it was before the Civil War, what was going on?”

It took a few moments. Then someone said, “Slavery was going on.”

“YES!” I exclaimed. “Yes, slavery was going on in 1820, and before it, and after it.”

I asked, “What else do you know about 1820?” I was getting excited now.

Someone said, a little quicker, “It was after the signing of the Consitution!”

“YES!” I cried again. “It was after the signing of the Constitution. You knew that. And what does that mean?”

“We were a country.”

“YES! We were a country. And we had been a country for a while, right? About how many years?”

“About 40 years.”

“And what do you think happened in those 40 years? Did the signers of the Constitution live forever?”

“The founders had all died.”

“That’s right. Or almost all of them.”

“And the people who had fought in the Revolutionary War.”

“That’s right. And so, who were these people of 1820? How might they be different from those people of the 1770’s and 1780’s?”

“They didn’t have that war. They didn’t have that revolution. They were born in the U.S.A.”

“Just like Bruce Springsteen, right?”

They didn’t get it. But I went on anyway.

“So, even thought you haven’t memorized ANYTHING about 1820, you KNOW a lot about it, because you know about these six dates. And you can make sense of ANY date. You have these dates and events as benchmarks. You can see what was before, and what was after, and you can figure a lot of things out. We could go on and on about 1820 now, don’t you think?”

They understood.

I’m into what kids KNOW. I think they know a lot. They like that I think that. I like helping them to realize that.

Swimmers in the Gorge

swimmers in the gorge below
nasty backflow there

I’m too far to yell

the falls are too loud

they must be new
or stopping by for graduation



there goes another
sliding down the rocks
vanishing under

Where is she?

Ah, Thank God.
Fucking idiots.

To burst the bubble of a moment in paradise
or just watch and pray?

Ah, they’re leaving now

snapping towels and beating hearts
laughter echos up
with the rising darkness

the dog’s been waiting to finish this walk
and find a squirrel to tree

I blow a few smoke rings off the bridge
and watch them drift over the gorge

In all a good day
with my dog, a nice cigar
and paradise won