Teach them how to discern and learn,
Don’t leave them helpless to crash and burn.
Teaching them just content, they learn it your way.
Teach them the process of learning today,
You give them a lifetime of learning every day.
Autumn leaves
fall slow
a child's questions
left hanging
in digital silence.
My fingers trace
letters that will not
hold still
b becomes d
was becomes saw
help becomes
nothing.
The maple outside
my bedroom window
drops one red leaf,
then another,
marking time
the old way.
Mom's phone buzzes:
Car arriving in 3 minutes
Pizza en route
Package delivered.
But no alert sounds
for the moment
understanding
slips away
from me.
No GPS tracks
the distance
between
what I know
and what
I need to know
to keep up
with Sarah, Asha
and Ahmed
and everyone else
who makes reading
look easy.
The tree empties
itself
of summer.
My note
book
empties
itself
of answers
I cannot find.
Both of us wait
for spring,
for someone
to notice
the silence
growing
inside me
in all this
bright, connected
noise.
SIX WOMEN PATIENTS
Six broken women lay down to rest
brown bodies all in a row
six long stories to tell with jest
six smiles with a million tears
race around ward releasing fears
just so
Six windows uncurtained offers
six sunny acacias buffered
trolleys reel, pills and bottles steep
surgeon makes his rounds with a nod
six students in tow
asking six silly questions to know
just so
Six hard beds high, sigh-slept many
linen stiff as a new penny
squishy meal of mieliepap mixed veggies
making six quite edgy
whose next for operation table no-one knows
they can though still touch their toes
just so
six sets of eyes close for night
dream of kids, chicken pie, golden flights
needles, nurses, morphine gone
no slips on escalator or hip joint pain
they reconnect their own wires, abiding fires
flowing into Aegian sea as African queens
awake back in ward, still here
wee patients not free, see ?
Matron says ‘Go pee’
just so
2025.04.08
Recently, I was fortunate enough to receive
Special treatments, at the RMIT building 51,
Where not only I have had so much fun.
But also having the bodily remedial therapy done.
I chatted and laughed with these young students.
What they did was part of their courses' curriculum.
They came up with a win-win situation,
Which they would provide massages at minimum cost,
To those who were willing to offer.
To be a live model, so the students could practice,
What they learned from their theories,
What they studied in their classes,
Into a real life performance.
I also being fortunate to have had
These two young and blubby personalities, Mary-Anne K and Indah D.
Giving me the massages,
To relieve all my aches, and loosen up my joints and muscles.
As many other students, they have heart of gold,
Helping people who have acute or chronic muscle pain.
They both installed beautiful long eyelashes,
Surround their eyes on the upper lids.
I found these amazing curve eyelashes,
Not only enhance their beauty,
But also to fan me if needed.
It’s one in the morning.
I zoomed into Lisa’s room
and threw myself on the bed where she lay reading
in a near virtuoso, Fosbury flop.
She bounced, jostled by my mechanical bed wave.
“I hate goodbyes,” I said, indignantly.
“You’re not strong on hellos” she said, not looking up.
“They’re so bone-marrow deep,” I went on, “they steal hope away.”
“Did that sound pretentious?” I asked her silence, a minute later, somewhat self-consciously.
Lisa took the yellow, #2-pencil out of her mouth—just long enough to answer.
When she studies, she chews on them, seemingly eating them like french fries.
“Yeah,” she says, “but I get cha.”
“I know,” I said, smiling at the ceiling, because in a rooted and real way, she always has.
I’d be a different person if we’d never met.
I feel very grateful for that.
“Your boy’s flown?” She asked, using her pencil to hold her page and finally looking up.
It was an ironic, near-rhetorical question, she knows he’s gone and she knows I know she knows he’s gone.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
.
.
Songs for this:
4am by girl in red
Don't Stop The Music by Rihanna
blushing! by BETWEEN FRIENDS
With my students I discussed the other day,
the famous line "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may."
Then after the prayer, with which our school day closes,
I heard the headmaster ask, "Anyone know what happened to my roses?"
And giggling to myself, I thought, "No effing way!"
My Teacher Is The Light Of My Life
Birds sing sweetly in the morning
The sky is clear without clouds and blue
My teacher came riding a bicycle
Bring useful knowledge
For our beloved ones
My teacher gave me a role model
Without tiredness or time
The light of your lamp will always live
Illuminates every step of the journey
Your knowledge will be useful throughout your life
My teacher told me
When you grow up you will become a useful person
To the nation
I pinned the message in my heart
All your services will never be forgotten
teacher's pet
she is an obedient student
compliant
rule follower
teacher refers her to gifted program
her intelligence score is mediocre
compliance does not mean gifted
but how many of us know this?
off the chain student
teachers argue against him receiving gifted services
he is a class disturbance
often off the wall behavior
wild, uninhibited; a strange thinker
his intelligent score is through the roof
wants everything to be fair
gifted? Oh, yes, ma’am!
The students couldn't wait
until the fat lady sung,
so some heaved rocks
while others slung dung..
Bonded by the beat from
an umbilical drum,
protesting in the streets
as one, Hashina's authoritarian regime
was overcome.
Again and again, the teacher enters the classroom.
Her lessons are heard by the eager but also fall on distracted minds.
The teacher reaches out to students and then loses their attention again.
Day after day the teacher rises above the noise,
carries the hopes and the potential of all children,
and each time we burden her with more paperwork.
Time and again society demands better education,
reaches from policy heights to the crowded classroom,
longs as an eternal ideal to ignite young minds.
The teacher is always moving among the desks,
to guide us today and prepare for tomorrow.
She looks with patient eyes straight into
our confusion, boredom, struggles, and dreams
but we do not dare to meet her expectations.
Only the spark of curiosity can match her dedication,
yet it flickers and fades in the face of rigid systems.
Bell after bell rings, marking time's relentless march,
as another day of possibilities slips away,
lost in a maze of standardised goals and distractions.
The teacher persists, her spirit unbroken,
while childhood's fleeting moments vanish,
sacrificed on the altar of misguided priorities.
super teachers expect all students to follow the golden rule
they do not want even one to act like a bully-fool.
Picking on others and making them cry is only fun
For a really sad child whose life has been horrible, son.
Children who are not treating others kindly, teachers have to know.
They sometimes can help a child whose life has been a low-blow.
They want everyone to be in a win-win situation
So the class can run like a family at a happy celebration
Tiny hands
Pure hearts
Silly smiles
Footprint art
Cheerful shrieks
New found words
Belly laughs
Singing heard
As I open up the door
These are the sounds I hear
And everyday it gives me a reason
To have a smile stretching from ear to ear
In the realm of knowledge, we delve deep,
Questions arise, disrupting our sleep.
Why do we need to study, some may say,
In this fast-paced world, where minds sway?
Practical benefits, a pathway clear,
To wisdom's gate, we draw near.
Yet, alternatives beckon, whispers in the night,
Challenging tradition, seeking insight.
Relevance to careers, futures unknown,
The seeds we plant, how they've grown!
Learning styles diverse, like colors in a stream,
Traditional paths versus a new dream.
Curiosity, the spark ignites,
In the darkness, it guides our flights.
Societal pressures, expectations bind,
But within our hearts, true knowledge we find.
Cultural nuances, shades of belief,
In the pursuit of truth, we seek relief.
Long-term benefits, a journey unfolds,
In the tapestry of life, stories untold.
Engagement, the key to unlock the door,
Innovation, creativity, forevermore.
So let us ponder, let us roam,
In the realm of knowledge, we find our home.
They follow her around at school
Where she leaves most of them
She has not learned yet to leave the others
They tug on her arms and beg for extra attention
She sees them in her poetry
She meets them on canvases
She dances with them in her dreams
With no idea how to shake them, she nurtures them and loves them
Giving them the tiny bits of extra attention, they need
Even in her dreams
Today I’m thankful that we are all teachers and students in life
The trick being…as we round every turn turn…
Is knowing when to teach
and knowing when to learn.
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