A student entered the classroom of my colleague with a rat. Really. The rat was traveling visibly underneath the boy’s clothing, around the stomach and the chest, up and down the sleeves and nestling in the wide birth of his hoodie hood. It made a girl scream. The lesson, whatever it was, is inevitably interrupted.Continue reading “#58: Classroom Management”
Tag Archives: poem
#57: This Is Happening
This Is Happening: Today, in my first official act as reverend, I will officiate the wedding of two former students of mine. I have written some words for, rehearsed and supped with these two bright stars from some deep place earlier in my career some 15 years back. And I wonder at this turn ofContinue reading “#57: This Is Happening”
#56: For Seamus Heaney
Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it. from “Digging” by Seamus Heaney For Seamus Heaney Many years ago now I wrote a poem about my father inspired by Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” the first Heaney poem I ever read. In the same way the poet continues his father’s workContinue reading “#56: For Seamus Heaney”
#55: Ode to the Handyman
I can barely hammer a nail into a piece of wood, but this guy comes over to repair glass, wire things up, lay tile, fix the plumbing, pour pavement, measure twice, cut once, hang finish carpentry and restore old lamp fixtures to their original glory. I never developed these skills or had the inclination toContinue reading “#55: Ode to the Handyman”
#54: The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive
The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive on which my entire life’s work as a teacher was “saved.” My technology guy, bless him, was able to retrieve nearly every last god-forsaken item– except any kind of organizational feature previously attached. So all perhaps one thousand assorted folders, documents, presentations, audio files,Continue reading “#54: The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive”
#53: On the Last Day of Summer Break
On the Last Day of Summer Break I’m home alone, cleaning house, sweeping, dusting, mopping, emptying the trash, doing small errands that have been waiting a long time, like those framed drawings of France that needed hanging, and that boat painting; now they’re up. I put away all the piles of rags and brushes andContinue reading “#53: On the Last Day of Summer Break”
#51: Benefit Car Crash
I misread the advertisement for a benefit car wash as a benefit car crash, honestly enough, my eye glancing quickly over the headline, eliminating the ‘a’ in car and the ‘w’ in wash, the brain filling in some redundancy so that sense could be made–because no one would advertise a benefit crash without specifying theContinue reading “#51: Benefit Car Crash”
#50: On Trying Again To Read Moby Dick (Again)
I’m not reading again, but instead, trying again to read for the first time, the problem being, as I’ve said before, not one of starting but of finishing, which, I fear is, but hope is not, a general pattern in my life. Call me Ishmael. What a great first line. I read it twenty timesContinue reading “#50: On Trying Again To Read Moby Dick (Again)”
#48: Learning to Ride
Learning to Ride He’s seven, reluctant to ride independently, most of his classmates far ahead on two wheels, which has not been a problem for him, so he says. No, I’m scared, he has said. No, I like the scooter better, he has said. I will never ride a bike, he has said. Never, heContinue reading “#48: Learning to Ride”
#46: Call Me Reverend
Call Me Reverend Call me reverend, call me padre or father, man of the cloth, pastor, minister, oh wise one, leader of men, shepherd, or guy who became an ordained minister on-line in less than five real live human minutes. Call me the guy who has credentials to marry and bury and a parking permitContinue reading “#46: Call Me Reverend”
michael jarmer 