1. Because They Teach.
2. Because They Learn...
Not To.
*****
About Uselessness.
YES
And The Artifice.
(& No.)
3. No!
-Gray Squirrel
There you sit
In the chair of ease
Taking for free
The fruit others grew
Questions arising
Judgments flying
You fail to be
...worthy
Maybe it's fear
Having a conversation
With the self
Who never got a hug
That perceives
Disdain in wandering eyes
Always measuring
...lay abouts
The problem is the system
The structure itself
Lined out in steel beams
With individuals entering
Walking the line
With no flooring to support
The accent to
...fall
Those who dare
To exit the door
At the top floor
Chasing the thief
Will see light fracture
As continual loss
Brings sight to grieve
...horizontal....lives
Written by Trudy Schrader on 05-16-2026
Earlier today, I had a small-group evaluation
that I’ve been quietly dreading
and frankly, I wasn’t sure I was ready.
See, I’ve neglected things of late
I had the flu and couldn’t concentrate.
But once that was over, I could focus,
and I did some uneducated guessing,
about what the physiology skill-drill might be.
My group peer-assessed me, and those guys can be savage,
and a fail on the quiz could block my module passage.
I showed what I’d prepared, 2-hours focussed on things like prioritizing diagnoses.
Their questions were pointed but they didn’t reveal their prognoses.
How’d I do? I haven’t a clue.
I was quivering with exhaustion when I was through.
The professeur seemed pleased, and I got a few nods and smiles,
in my clinical-presentation debut.
.
,
A song for this:
Diary by Lucy Tun
You Need Therapy (Ready) by Mila Smith
non-compensatory - A fail in ED/PBL can block module passage
Its prefferable to allow speech to be free
For 'only then' can others consider?
Of the orators intent; and
Ideas? Also mentallity.'
In an open hall, hearts begin to race.
All seated calmly, supervisors watch with grace.
As papers are handed out, curiosity ignites.
My learners stand before me, their knowledge in light.
They write what I’ve taught, what they now know,
Expectations rise as the results start to glow.
Grades are received, reflecting the guiding hand.
A measure of success in the eyes that understand.
Another day, a sunrise in an open sky
And so let the judgements begin!
Everyone we meet, everything we do
We silently judge
Weighing them and us against
Some standards we hold
No matter how shaky.
Each of us rising and falling thus
In a great equation
Stretching across lifetimes
From genetic pasts
To ideological futures.
An action or attribute added here
An inconsistency or moral failing
Subtracted there
In real-time cancelling each other out
To leave us with some core value.
And so we have our Judgement Day
Whenever it comes,
In a distant future
Or in the moment of now, nakedly, mirror-like
Revealing what it is we stand on and for.
(10/11/25)
If I died in my sleep tonight,
upon reflection ~
I'd only have one true regret.
Though I tried to make
the most of my time on earth,
of course I've fallen short.
And for that I would be sorry.
I should have done more,
I should have been more,
I should have loved more.
Gifts squandered, time frittered,
thinking of all I could have done,
the many dreams left on the table
because I thought someday I'd have time.
Death is sudden with no do-overs
but really, we do know one day it's coming ~
time should never be taken for granted,
death is not supposed to be a true surprise.
AP: 1st place 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
I never knew what to fill the spaces with
Sometimes I didn't even see them
They were disguised under many coats
With hidden pockets of shallowness
And oversized buttons to mismatched holes.
It didn't matter most of the time
Because the tailor never stopped sewing more
And I was content to let them lie
Beneath the growing pile of tweed
And gaberdine and wrinkled linen
Kind fabrics who wrapped them up
And kept them warm and unprepared
But as time went on and more people
Left the party, the pile of coats
Gradually disappeared and the tailor
couldn't keep up the pace of making
The spaces could be easily filled at first
With dreams, with passion, with sorrow,
With the wrap of a Cherub's leg in bed,
With the carefree knowing there'd be time
To butter them with tears or laughter
Or use their emptiness for meditation
But in the spaces that are left
A greater contemplation is required
It is necessary for them to be filled
With greater aspiration which in itself
Brings further sorrow for deep within them
Is the simple indication
That I will not have enough time
To fill them all.
© Allen Ansell 2025
They aren’t me.
One living in my basement;
thirty-two years old, working odd jobs,
the other thirty-four in his childhood room
satisfied with scraps I throw his way,
and a fifty-inch flat screen for company.
The girls both working on second and third marriages
Children of the children of the sixties,
just didn’t stand a chance.
Dweezil, River, Moonbeam and Love.
If I could do it over again, 'I wouldn’t'!
I serve the Truth
That prickles often minds
Ruthless return.'
Lord all components
Many parts; none removed no.'
Every atom owned sic..
Who can turn off?
Sun black, the midday faces'
Tell Him no.' whit'less
No redress, this is.'
The story, tells it more real.'
Its life, death; victory.'
The custody evaluator’s
Grand plan,
Playing God with
Other people’s lives,
What could
Possibly go wrong.
In life, we seek to grow and thrive,
To reach new heights and strive.
But oftentimes, we may forget,
To evaluate our own mindset.
The Bible speaks of self-reflection,
A tool for our own protection.
360 feedback can bring to light,
Our strengths and weaknesses in sight.
Mentoring with God, we can gain,
Insight to overcome the pain.
With prayer and Scripture by our side,
Our self-awareness can arise.
So, let us judge ourselves with grace,
And seek to run our own race.
For in our evaluations true,
We'll find the path that leads to new.
What's the values of life
What's a successful life
No definition indeed
One man's meat may be another man's poison
Let the happiness decides
Man should pursue happiness
Without hurting others
Or offending the law
Let's follow one's conscience
Let's follow the teachings of God
Life is full of meanings and pursuits
Richess, love, health, fame or contribution
May be one of the road to
The tower of happiness
And so a successful life
But it can be either temporary or everlasting
And it all depends on your fate or sincerity
My heart is so beating now
Rushing blood circulating
My life is subject to how
My behavior evaluating
6/6/22
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2022©
QUATRAIN
What do we have here
It's the twenty-four impure hours
that precede this exact moment
in which we realize that the past day
once again had no qualities
and it was just and again
the amorphous happening of empty facts
repeating the constant tonic
of the previous countless hours
in which our accounting demonstrated
that is not only wild
but also cruel in the essence of its meaning
because the extract of everything is a gigantic nothing
that accumulated formats what we are:
the tasteless layers of recurring thoughts
the monotonous routine of deficient organisms
the outlandish bet on a losing run
the unnecessary accumulation of obsolete items
the incessant search for the essential but non-existent
logical sense to our incoherent lives.
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