This poet is an educator. Welcome to my classrooms.
is a cardboard box
with a
"this side up" arrow
pointing
both ways,
causing the opener of the box
to scratch her head and
wonder what that means.
Tyler is made
of the corrugated
kind
of
material that
doesn't bust
but it expands and contracts
weather permitting.
Tyler
is like a cardboard box
filled with fruit cake and molasses cookies
and oatmeal-raisin chocolate chip
with whole wheat flour
and gym socks.
clr 2010
The crime scene pristine,
cameras flashing,
low, serious murmur of
Kourtney and her investigative
team.
A life taken in the
unyielding darkness of
another
back alley in Vegas.
A family mourns,
while goodly brains sift
the scene for clues,
closer they come to the painful truth, their faces taut,
respectful, focused questions.
"When did you see him last?"
she asks and the sobbing is broken
by her hiccup.
CLR 2010
Grace means
elegance, charm, poise, beauty.
Ploish, style, refinement.
Grace means Daniel.
Daniel means
a wise and honorable person,
a prophet whose faith in God protected him
in the lion's den.
Daniel means Grace
Now uncovering who he really
wants to be
he uses me
to help define himself and
clarify what is important to him.
He is
Daniel Grace.
CLR 2010
Sadly, on April 6, 2012, his Grace left us here
Kaitlyn's head is bright red
but it's nothing at all to dread.
Her nose has the hole, not necessarily her soul
but
Kaitlyn's smile hides a trial,
which has lasted more than a while
and her parrotish, colorful countenance speaks for itself.
"shhh" it says, "just look at me
look at me, I'm making it
fine
my head held high,
my pain, sublime."
Says her colorful countenance to me.
clr 2010
You have indicated that you question
my use of indicated, which indicates
that your intellect is engaged,
and I am happy.
Tiresias indicates that Oedipus
is guilty, with blood on his hands
and he therefore indicates and implicates
Oedipus! interchangeable, delightful
words,
are they not?
Your excellent brian, Brian, is the only reason
you wondered, and I thank you
for making me feel like a
teacher at last.
clr 2010
The numbers gather round him
holding hands and singing Kumbaya.
He holds his soul steady by
referring to mathematical equations
and discomboobablating
the English teacher with
his constant
onslaught of grumbling, mumbling, fumbling
wisdom.
He will free himself from his sheltered
world of numbers if only he will
believe the words he wrote
about letters and numbers
being equal.
Is he ignoring the fact
that numbers are infinite and therefore clearly
superior
to words,which eventually
will end?
clr2010
There is a smile beneath
the frown
tucked under
the smirk
and
somewhere behind the demure scowl
there is hidden
under the glare--a gaze
This Crystal has
so many surfaces and
like a Spanish
onion,
so many beautiful
layers that
one must arduously peel away
to know her,
and like the onion
it may bring tears to your eyes.
CLR 2010
If beauty had a middle name
Ela would be it.
If a Kodiak bear was ever renamed
it should be Kjsiak,
With the natural tendency
to eat the head
off a wandering lost man
innocent in the wilderness
Is inadvisable
to disturb her cubs
due to the fact
the awful fact
that Ela
Will expect him to
hold his eyeballs in his hand
when she has finished.
and it is true that
within the bear
lives this beauty of a beast.
CLR 2010
She dances in the door,
she glides across the floor
she sees her desk right there,
but is stops her not, nowhere.
She tootles on her tiptoes
to visit her friends,
across the room, smiling
until the time ends
and the bell rings.
Then she shrewishly
pretends she heard nothing
then the dancing teacher begins
and there's a pull from the headmaster,
and pull from the pupil
and around and around they go,
circling each other,
with steps of a feather,
but to her desk, she'll eventually go,
and Kelsey, well she
continues to dance as she
will for the rest of her life.
CLR 2010
Andrew's somber visage is there
sitting in the back.
when his face takes a break
and relaxes, it smiles
and who knows why
but
we get to see that
wonderfully bright
and terribly, terribly, terribly
White smile.
Shawnta:)
taught me to
always add a smiley face
to every paper I grade.
Shawnta:)
taught me that a little drawing
makes
a big difference.
Shawnta:)
taught me.
And then she went away,
and when she returned,
I thought I sensed
a smidgen of distrust in her smile.
CLR 2010
After this, Shawnta :) wrote a little free verse for me:
To Ms. Ray
My high school English teacher
Who taught me the infinite joy of writing sweet poetry,
your weird, yet creative ways of teaching made me more open
to learn in different dynamics.
In my mind, you will always be remembered as that dog lady
who likes to eat ice and
say random thing at the wrong time.
You are loved.
Shawnta :)
Jean Valjeane spoke to Jimmy today
in words so true they hurt.
In a place somewhere, I'll never know,
Les Mis spoke Jimmy's name.
And with cockeyed smile, head bent and
leaning, Jimmy spoke his truth.
"This is getting good, I'll admit
It's got me into in."
With those simple words, this teacher felt t
he future shudder.
Jimmy Tek isn't just one, Langson showed us that...now,
he is you and me and everyperson he sees or talks to
every day
for the restof his life, and they are part of him, therefore me,
and to them
This teacher says
"Hi" and welcome
to my world.
clr '10
After I posted this on the wall and put it in a book, Jimmy Tek wrote these words in the margin.
"The literature you write may be the story of your new beginning!"-JimmyTek
Hair black as ink
like the squid, in deep
from the depths of
the dark sea.
Kind like a
kitten,
all soft and fuzzy
and sweet
as though
brand new
to this
cold
hard
world.
This lovely bit of
an autological
girl
we call Amber:
Amber Amber.
Mauve it a little bit to the right
Mauve over here
Mauve it, Buster!
Mauve your rear-end!
Mauve it or lose it!
Mauve.
Any other questions for me,
Mauve Marsha Luciencia Holt?
Rachel used to have two holes
right inside her nose.
Then she thought she'd like
some more
and added two to those.
She smiles and talks and lives
her life
with style as number one.
and people wonder what she does
when she's not having fun.
she loves to color books and hair
and people ofthen glare.
and yet, with steel balls in her nose,
she really doesn't care!
clr 2011
MeShae deserves and Ode to herself,
and it simply will not do to say
"she reminds me of
so and so and suchas and wherefore"
MeShae is full of
so much more!
Polonius might make her laugh
because he's so much like me,
but then there is MeShae who
makes me laugh more,
and for the rest of her life,
will send me a word of the day.
clr 2011
For goodness sakes, it's already May and, be still my heart, I have not acknowledged that
Every time Fernando walks in the
Room it is as though a fluffy blanket enters,
Not one that is new, but one that is
As the Velveteen Rabbit is
Not
Dusty, just
Old like the stars and twice as genteel as the very dust that stars were made from.
Ms. Ray 2011
The sparkle
wears off Ittay's brilliantly gloossed,
shined, crafted layer of
fine manners and grace, and
underneath this Sheen (as in Charlie),
we find a
gremlin who would prefer a small dog
on a bbq, with salt and pepper, thank you.
His smile and deference to his elders is undone
with the slam of his foot to the ground.
clr 2011
Mr. Hankacy has his good times,
and Tom Hanks, he has his bad.
Yes, he has some happy days,
which often turn just sad.
But Conner has his opines and is
as wise as the owl of lore,
Yankacy brought us up a notch making us worth
much more.
Without him we would
sorrowfly be
The class called period four.
CLR 2011
Sometimes
I called you Frankie
because of Johnny Cash
Sometimes
you walked in the door late
because of Mr. Carlson.
but
Always
you shine from the deepest
recesses, just like Nicole did, before.
and
Always
you will make your parents proud, both after, and before.
clr 2011
