Poetry Slam, 2014 Edition

According to tradition, I gladly read 3 poems tonight at the JHS annual Poetry Slam. Here is this year's set:

Know Your Eights

Calculate

Annotate

Approximate

Commiserate

Communicate

Create

Cultivate

Dilate

Eliminate

Equate

Estimate

Evaluate

Exasperate

Extrapolate

Fabricate

Formulate

Guesstimate

Hallucinate

Hydrate

Illuminate

Intimidate

Overestimate

Postulate

Procrastinate

Retaliate

Separate

Tabulate

Tessellate

Tolerate

Translate

Truncate

Underestimate

Validate

Congratulate

Graduate

My Life, According to my Television Tray

A red pen

A Jimmy John’s receipt

        A Kohl’s receipt

        A Staple’s receipt

2 spins of yarn

1 incomplete crocheted bookmark

A Phillips-head screwdriver

A newspaper clipping

A TI-84 Plus Silver Edition Graphing Calculator

2 books – one fiction, one non

1 half-eaten box of fudge-covered graham crackers

Eclipse

It wasn’t until it was ending,

When the radiance finally slipped around the shadow,

That I realized just how dark it had been.

Haikus!

The Phi Beta Kappa Book Club on facebook is having a contest for the best haiku written about a book. (More info here: http://www.pbk.org/home/FocusNews.aspx?id=796)

Here are the ones I entered -- please share what all of you come up with! :)

Atonement for her,
Their secret, her assumption,
She makes the ending

Our first impression
In The Sound and the Fury --
Time flows to and fro

Louisa put some
Of herself, some ideals in
Her Little Women

Floating on the sea,
So many faces, stories,
Mansfield's Ship of Fools

Many voices merge
Telling of their Africa
Poisonwood Bible

As I Lay Dying --
Taking the casket across
the land, together.

Poetry Slam!

So, tonight I competed in the second annual Poetry Slam at the high school. I had so much fun! Sharing wonderful poetry, laughing and reflecting with great people, and being overly animated (aka making a scene)...good times. :) I was thoroughly impressed with the students and their unique voices, and how they so courageously stood in front of their peers to show everyone their thoughts and feelings. Awesome.

Here are the three poems I shared tonight (yeah, you read it right -- I got to the third round!), in the order I shared them. Hope you enjoy.

From Behind the Big Desk

From behind the big desk,

I can see you texting.

From behind the big desk,

I can see you doodling on your notes.

From behind the big desk,

I can see you typing notes on the graphing calculator and showing your friends.

From behind the big desk,

I can see your mouth move as you “don’t talk” to your friend across the room.

From behind the big desk,

I know I’m not the only teacher who asks for your ID.

From behind the big desk,

sometimes you hurt my feelings.

From behind the big desk,

sometimes I can’t wait for the weekend, either.

From behind the big desk,

sometimes 809 is the last place I want to be, too, but I’m still working.

From behind the big desk,

sometimes I can’t wait until you graduate, too.

From behind the big desk,

I can see when it doesn’t make sense,

and I do all I can to reach out to help you,

but I need you to reach back,

to bridge the gap between you and me, behind the big desk.

What I Want for You

Four times now,

I’ve stood before 100+ students

for the first time,

their names still crisp on the Skyward roster,

my voice steady, poorly camouflaging my butterflies.

Four times now,

these students have become my kids,

Mine.

Some like me; some don’t. That’s not required.

Over nine months or so,

we get to know one another, the good and the bad,

and the crazy woman up front

develops not only expectations for you –

but hopes for you as well.

This is what I want for you:

To know how nice it feels to hear someone genuinely ask how you are today.

To learn how you’re wired, so that you can use your strengths and improve your weaknesses.

To always, always, know there is room to improve, to grow.

To live life full of joy and find ways to pass it on.

To respect everyone, even (perhaps especially) those you don’t like.

To realize you are more than capable of success, and to see that the effort really is worth it.

To find your passion, what makes you want to get up every morning, just as I have found mine.

 

Ode to Spell Check

How I love thee

When I write letters to send home to parents

And emails to my boss.

How I wish, though, that you could recognize my dyslexia

And tell me when I’ve typed “put” instead of “but.”

When I started working on poems for the poetry slam a few months back, I joked with my students that I should write a poem of only the little, quirky sayings I often use in class. Several students kept asking for the poem, so I wrote one up for their last day of classes. I projected it so that they could read it as they were coming into the room and getting settled. It was so much fun watching them read it, nodding and chuckling when they recognized one. A couple students commented on how this is a little like my script for the day -- I start at the beginning, put in math wherever it fits, and just keep going through the list until the end of the hour. Perhaps I could give this to the administration as my general lesson outline.

Ms. Arnold-isms

Hello! How are you today? It’s my turn!
You have something you should be doing.

PAUSE.
Volume, please.
No, thanks for asking.
Is it do-able?
Zero to five?Thumbs up/thumbs down/ishy?

-ish...
All that jazzIt’s just a little plastic surgery

Difference between lightning and lightning bug…
I'm a math teacher, and even I don't want to do it.

I'm an English teacher -- why are you asking me?Halleluiah!

It's my dyslexia kicking in.
That's a lie.
I need more working and less chatting.
That's grand.
Any questions before the next step?
That's a good question.
What are my expectations with a test?No communicating whatsoever, at all, period, until the last test is in.
I need people in desks, not on or near them.
Thanks for working so hard for me today!
Do the homework!
Have a good day!

Encouraged Writing

I may be a math teacher, but my colleagues are wonderfully encouraging me to write creatively more and more. One colleague and friend was gracious enough to let me read some of his work, and another has now asked me to write a handful of pieces for a publication at the school. So here's round one, first drafts...

Anticipation
Wondering when
Makes it worse
Checking & checking
Again
Still Nothing

This time
Something
But only
Spam

Not you


Contracted
The words itch in my fingertips
Press to flow out the pen's tip
Buzz around between my ears
Rhythm aligning
Rhymes coupling
Each action, observation, conversation
Gives a new twist


Here
I step out the patio door
Close my eyes

Listen to the cardinals
Smell the flowers, freshly mown grass
See the outstretched prairie
Horizon only interrupted
By the occasional hill and tree

Open my eyes
To the brick and shingle
Of the apartments beyond the square of grass
The traffic a block away
The neighbors' conversations and TVs

And I step back inside



Digital Procrastination
Working with my laptop open
Gmail, Facebook, and Pandora staring back at me

Write
Glance at inbox

Calculate
Scroll NewsFeed

Evaluate
Click "Love this song!"

Exchanging higher productivity
For a sense of immediate
Connectedness



Systematic Approaches
The lines only match up
End to end, intersecting
At the correct coordinates
When I make the effort

The lines only rhyme
When the words are
Lame
Naive
Contrived

The lines are too standard
Too forced
Too predictable
Everything expected of me,
nothing of my own.

Today is for free verse,
Squiggles and doodles

Today is mine.

JHS Poetry Slam Poems

A few weeks ago, I competed in my school's first poetry slam. I was the only faculty member to compete, but I had such a blast! :) I even made it to the second round of competition, which essentially means the crowd liked my first poem far more than my second.

Here are my poems from that evening, including the one I didn't get to read. Keep in mind my audience consisted of my students, so they're not my most serious work. ;)

Dear Lesson 6.2
Dear Lesson 6.2
"Graphing Polynomial Functions:"
I can't stand you.
Period.
I don't even remember learning you,
So you're obviously useless.
My students hate your guts.
Most can't even remember how to start your problems,
And several don't understand why we do your steps.
How do you expect me to teach you
with all of this loathing around?
I think I'll cut you from my curriculum
and just teach my kids how to graph with a calculator
instead.

Sincerely,
Ms. A


An Ode to My Facebook Inbox
As I turn on my laptop
I sign in and see
I have a new message
Waiting for me.
I get all excited --
From whom could it be?
I hover my mouse
Over the link
To discover the sender
And I stop and blink --

That's who sent me a message?
That's who thought of me today?
That's who took the time to write?
That's who I'll have to respond to?

That's who I'll be avoiding today...


Third Round Poem
I tried to write a poem,
But none of the rhymes would fit.

I tried to write a poem,
But all the rhythms were out of wack.

I tried to write a poem,
And all my ideas came out like blobs.

I tried to write a poem...

And then decided I probably wouldn't
make it to the third round anyway
So no one was going to hear it
So what was the point anyway?