As if there’s something they could learn from me,
I’d open the door to my classroom
And the suction it created
Often blew my doors off
Heart on the sleeve
Is not good advice for a teacher
Many a pedagogue (and cardiologist) will tell you.
The goal might have been
A certain homeroom homeostasis
Energy in, energy out
Tidal
Drawing from greater powers
Rather than the tsunami
A rush and flush
That swept me hollow
Empathy
Was getting the best of me.
Maybe the best ones
Aka the survivors
Could create some sort of
Emotional semi-permeable barrier
A stasis system
Some sort of wear-in conditioner
That allows them to give
Without being consumed?
Others
Tired and tried
Had calendars with Xs on the days
Mirroring the glaze in their eyes
Slumping and stooped
In toxic teacher’s rooms
Where triage was performed daily
10:40-12:10.
I only had so much to give
And then that too gave out.
I held out my hand
Though sometimes it was almost empty.
I’m going to send Donald
Trump a birdfeeder.
You might picture it in
the window of this photograph,
Possibly with a Peterson’s Field Guide placed usefully
on the Resolute Desk.
I won’t labor the
President with any lectures on ornithology
Or science or adaptations
and the like,
Since he wouldn’t likely
listen to me.
I’ll only ask him to keep
the feeder filled
With a nice mix of
sunflower seeds and millet.
The chickadees and titmice
will be appreciative
I’m sure.
Maybe the President will
watch them and marvel
At their enterprising
natures,
Their common beauty,
And their valiant struggle
for survival?
They will only take a few minutes
of his time each day
But they will surely show
him things he did not know,
He did not know,
Like steadfastness, diversity,
playfulness, and simple joie de vivre.
David Thoreau
said,
"I once had a sparrow alight upon my
shoulder for a moment,
while I was hoeing in a village garden,
and I felt that I was more distinguished by
that circumstance
that I should have been by
any
epaulet I could have worn."
Maybe the
sparrows will teach The Commander-in-Chief
About peaceful
co-existence?
And tolerance?
And modesty?
William
Wordsworth is oft quoted,
"Come forth into the light of
things, let nature be your teacher."
All leaders need
teachers.
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