it knocked me
off my feet
and
attacked me
from
all sides
and
i
was
completely
left
defenseless
to
its powers
holy hell
the
only thing
worse
would be
if it said
we will
come
to your house
and
finger feed you
chips and dip
and
salted caramels
while you
lie around
on your sofa
as we walked in from recess
e muttered aloud:
why do we have to take naps?
why do we have to take them every day?
why do schools make kids take naps?
whey do we have to?
why?
do all schools take naps?
i hate naps.
i never fall asleep.
i do not like naps.
naps are dumb.
when we
got back to our room
he
got a drink of water
laid down on his cot
and
passed out cold
for 1 and 1/4 hours
and
neither of us
said a word
when he
finally woke up
—-
image credit: justcuteanimals.com
‘breathe in experience, breathe out poetry’ – muriel rukeyser
—-
in honor of national poetry day
—
image credit: nationalgeographic.com
found out
i missed
national coffee day
yesterday
this
calls for
a
double celebration
today
on the beautiful island of jamaica
a few years back
i
went
horseback riding
with my friend
and a ‘guide’
and no regulations
and no paperwork
and off we went
up
into the mountains
only to find
a tiny coffee shop
in the middle of nowhere
serving wonderful
blue mountain coffee
and
a farmer
way up high
on the mountain
who had a cooler
of local beer
and
who grew
local crops
some legal
some not
we stopped
for a rest
and a beer
and
tried out
the local crops
then headed
back down the mountain
and my horse
took off like a shot
running
at top speed
and
we flew
through the trees
over the trail
into the bushes
i pulled back
on the reins
with all of my strength
to slow him down
held on tight
planning to roll
when i would
at last
be thrown off
the guide
caught up
grabbed my reins
yelled something
to my horse
who finally
slowed down
and said
‘oh, mon. i forgot to tell you
you are riding
‘lightning’
he loves to race
as fast as the wind
whenever
there are other horses around
glad you held on’
and my friend caught up and said
‘ i saw your sandals fly off
as you galloped away
and it was one wild ride
to see from behind.’
and i said,
‘good thing
i wore my ‘relax’ shirt.’
though
i’m not sure
my horse could read
—
riding: the art of keeping a horse between you and the ground. ~author unknown
when sheep herders have a sense of humor
—
image credit: the intelligent optimist magazine
the first year that i became a teacher
i challenged
my multi-age third-fifth grade class
to find
the longest word in the english language
antidisestablishmentarianism
to learn
how to spell it
to discover
its meaning
to be
excited
about the power of words
then
i received
the above note
from one of those students
challenging me back
at a higher level
and
i was
excited
about the power
of his words
and
understood
their meaning
and
discovered
that
i loved
being a teacher
and
learning
every single day
—
image credit: grammarly.com
I didn't have my glasses on.... 