Gracious lady stands roadside –

adorned in elegant leafy green.

Languidly, yet deliberately transforming

until she’s clothed in  finest

fall foliage – shades of coppery flame.

Savored briefly – then in time

she proudly displays her lanky

leafless, barren limbs,

until spring endows her once

again with fresh budding green.

(Every year I think this about a tree on Island Ford Road-just trying to pay homage.)

Music is not music until it’s released from the page –

It’s merely notes on a sheet – longing to be set free –

Perched on paper – black on white – waiting…

Waiting for wings – from brass,  piano, banjo,  guitar, voice…

Waiting to soar to the rafters – rising, growing …

leaving in its wake – cold chills, laughter, tears –

clapping, foot stomping, singing along.

Creating connections, memories, feelings of nostalgia.

Free to truly exist – not on paper,

but in hearts, minds, and souls – alive and liberated.

No longer rooted to paper – lifeless…

No longer merely notes on a page.

You know how when you see something beautiful in nature you  can look past all the things  in your way – the things you don’t want to see – like electric wires, houses, cars, and such. Sometimes I think it’s like that with people too. We look past the parts we don’t want to see and only see what we want. Perhaps we should look at all they show us and really know who we’re looking at, but is that even possible? Do we want to admit that maybe someone isn’t what or who we really thought they were – since then we have to admit our misjudgment?  I’ve had this happen with friends. All of a sudden, you look at them and see what’s really been there all along, but you were too reluctant to acknowledge. For once you admit it, you either have to accept what they’re showing you, or be willing to move on without them. Maybe rather than overlooking so much we need to take time to look over who is really in front of us.

Everyone needs validation –

from the worst behaved 8th grader

to the CEO of a company.

We all need to know that we matter to someone –

an atta boy, atta girl, a good job, an I like that introductory

sentence you wrote – it knocked me out of my chair!

We need to know that what we want, what we like,

what makes us uncomfortable really matters to others.

We need to know that we are important and that

what we want, what we need, is significant to those in our lives.

It’s as vital as the very air we breathe –

everyone won’t admit it, maybe they don’t even realize it,

but there it is – central, critical, crucial, imperative to us all whether

we know it, admit it, or acknowledge it.

Yes, you matter to me – what you want and need – there, I’ve said it…

Fog – ephemeral, ethereal,

Softens edges and blurs lines

Reducing the world to black and white

Swirling, dancing, sometimes obliterating –

Soon disappearing

Fog – a fleeting, fading, fugitive –

Making sharp lines dissolve…

See what I’m doing here? It’s so much fun.

Immerse yourself in words –

Drown in their sounds.

Colossal fat words like mammoth and gargantuan.

Minuscule puny words like infinitesimal and diminutive.

Confusing words like flummox, discombobulate, perplex.

Just right words like flawlessly and precisely.

Absolutely wrong words like erroneous, awry, amiss.

Dark stormy words like tempestuous, blustery, and somber.

Succulently luscious words like delectable, opulent, and sumptuous.

Noisy clamorous words like brouhaha and ballyhoo.

Color drenched words like turquoise, sapphire, verdant.

Soft gentle words like affable, supple, velvety.

Tender warm words like glowing, delicate, scorching, sizzling.

Wet juicy words like syrup, sodden, and dewy.

Sonorous booming words like thunderous and deafening.

Actiony busy words like animation, ebullience, turmoil.

Quiet muted words like reticent, peaceful, and muffled.

Final, ending words like concluding, closing, and finishing.

Dream in words, bathe in words, lose yourself in lexicon.

Words tumble around in us and through us – life blood of our language.

River whispers to me as it passes –

Whatever you want is right here –

Come leave your troubles on my banks –

Reach for inner peace in my depths –

Let me reflect the best of you.

I answer gently and softly – all is well.

Middle school merry-go-round –

homeroom

take coupon book money to cafeteria

make sure you’re in assigned seat

collect flu mist forms

give out progress reports

say the pledge of allegiance

observe moment of silence

it’s picture day

take sip of coffee

I need to retake my quiz

here’s some box tops

can I go here

can I go there

you need something to do

can I go to my locker

weren’t you just at your locker

well, yes

then no

take roll

get ready for 1st period

write agenda on board

write date on board

try to find coffee

students remind me where it is

take sip

answer questions

round and round

up and down

doesn’t stop

spins right

spins left

20 questions

hurled fast

hurled faster

get ready

1st period begins

take roll

be sure to write in agendas

go over objective

preview lesson

model lesson

repeat

I do

we do

you do

repeat

group students

circulate among students

listen to intercom

check for understanding

clarify

repeat

reteach

I need a bandaid

I need a kleenex

what did she say

remind students to listen

can I sharpen my pencil

remind students to write name on paper

remind students where to write name on paper

remind students to write last name on paper

remind students to write date on paper

remind students that date is on board

remind students to write class period on paper

remind students this is 1st

4th,

5th,

6th period

repeat

turn around

sit down

keep up

yes, page 29

what page did she say

repeat

yes, figurative language

simile

metaphor

hyperbole

euphemism

repeat

personification

it’s in the title

repeat

write the page number

what did she say

repeat

write the page number

do I write the page number

yes, write the page number

what did she say

repeat

what page are we on

page 29

page 29?

can I go to my locker

no, you were just at your locker

is this yours

no

it has your name on it

oh, maybe it is

finally, it’s plan time

we have a meeting

got to go to the bathroom

why are we meeting

who knows

call a parent

I’m not coming to meet with you teachers

you don’t come help clean his room!!!

go to 4th period

take roll

repeat above

my stuff’s not in the bin

isn’t this it

yes, where was it

in the bin

oh

can I go to the library

we went yesterday

we did?

yes

are you sure

yes, I’m sure

did you finish

yes

this one’s not done

oh

I’ve got them now,

they’re all with me and…

the intercom, the dreaded intercom-

Can so and so stop by on their way to lunch?

Broke the spell, can’t get ’em back –

can I go to the nurse for some ice

end of 4th period

go to lunch

blink

lunch is over

go to cafeteria to get class

back to the room

collect things

go to 5th period

repeat

I need to call my Mom

can I give her something

can I have a band-aid

do you have any hand sanitizer

put your things away in the bin

bin on the shelf

go to 6th period

repeat

give instructions

what did she say

remember listen for yourself

don’t depend on other students

does everyone know what we’re doing

no, what are we doing

repeat instructions

do you have any kleenex

did they call bus 111

until the final call for students at 3:40.

can I do this, can I go there, can I take an AR test,

I need, I need, I need

incessantly spinning

Middle school merry go round

ends for the day

One young boy – solitary in death –

one small boy alone, face down on the sand

of a Turkish beach –

one small boy clad in a red t-shirt,

touching our hearts with his perfect stillness,

a life yet unlived –  a life ended way too soon.

He has a  name – Aylan Kurdi

and his heartbreaking reality devastated me.

His image – not surprisingly, haunts me.

I must acknowledge that no parents

would put their child in such peril unless the war

they’re fleeing is much worse than the risks they willingly

took trying to escape. He should be playing in the sand

on the beach – not lying dead, washed ashore by

waves that also delivered the dead bodies of his

brother and mother. His father has been left to

face the future alone.

What will it take for us to realize we are all human?

What can I possibly do to ease the suffering of others?

These questions haunt my waking thoughts and dwell

in my dreams. The conundrum of being human in an

inhumane world.