People are murdered, yes, but no one was murdered here today.
People are mean.
Not always.
People are unfair, unkind, disrespectful.
Who are you hanging around with?
Let’s think a bit about what Albright said.
We can choose to be upbeat, positive, happy.
We can strive toward enthusiasm, happiness, hope.
Cut those people loose. You can do better!
Let’s take a walk. Feel the sunshine? See the happy dandelions?
There goes a squirrel who is delighted with the bird feeder.
Who could dream up anything perkier than that daffodil?
Have you ever seen a more refreshing green?
How are you feeling?
I am feeling depressed, down, dank, dark.
What is going on?
I don’t have any friends like you. I don’t know how to have joy.
Stick with me, kid. I am here to reteach. Look at that sky!
How do you do that? She asks me.
Do what?
Remain positive.
I think for a second, then I reply. “I focus on positive things.”
She is silent for a few steps. Then she asks “That’s it?”
“Try it,” I tell her. “It is enough.”
Categories:
reteach, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Narrative
Stepping onto foreign soil
I take my first newfangled breath
"Here skies are blue
And dreams come true" -
They say, this is success.
With every step I take, I see
My peers ten steps ahead of me
They all began
Where I now stand
Much earlier than me.
Every time I try my skills
They say I must conform my ways.
My mother- tongue
Is here, unsung
My culture in this land unpraised.
I now must renovate myself
Must keep the stars I long in reach,
So let me paint
A new constraint
Upon my heart as they reteach
My actions to be like the "norm"
I feel a new identity!
At first averse,
But now immersed,
I start my walk in novelty.
The path I trek is frightening!
No matter what, I need to fight -
I trip and fall,
With demons, brawl,
Torn to pieces, move in fright.
But now I stand upon a hill
And now the fog has cleared a bit
I stand achieved,
But soon I leave
To conquer mountains greater still.
Categories:
reteach, america, change, discrimination, identity,
Form: I do not know?
As Memories Fade
Excitement waits
A week on an island vacation
Shopping boutiques and antique stores
Visiting Art galleries
Dinning and enjoy the entertainment
With no cell phones
Slowly escaping
Away from the everyday life
To lull
On the sandy beach
Slowly escaping
Strolling barefoot
Feeling the wet soaking sand
And the cool ocean breeze
Watching the consolations
That is out of reach
Listening to the serenity
Of the night tease
Being entertained
With sounds of the waves,
Shrill of the seagulls, and
Roar and barks of the sea lions
As memories fade
To reteach and reveal who I am
Not wanting to go back to reality
Golden days to remember
© Eve Roper 3/28/2015
Contest: 'Golden Days'
Sponsored by: Rob Carmack
Categories:
reteach, vacation,
Form: Free verse