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Poem of the Day/ Week

I've started teaching poetry to my ninth graders. It is amazing the range of reactions I get from them when I tell them that is what we will be studying next. I LOVE poetry and I really want them to enjoy it as well, or at least find some poem that they don't totally hate. So I've been reading a lot of contemporary poetry of late and marking poems that I am initially drawn to at first reading. Here's one of my new favorites...

Did I Miss Anything? by Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any acitivites we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet

posted by CP @ 4:15 PM 0 thoughts