Lesson Plan

And so the lesson began,

a brief poem to read, “two roads diverged …”,

questions asked, questions answered,

metaphor and simile, rhyme and meter,

new vocabulary, a new way of seeing,

and a brief essay to write showing meaning,

understanding, new skills acquired;

 

then the announcement came:

“go into lockdown,

this is not a drill!”

 

So we sat huddled in the corner,

away from the door, away from the windows,

the lesson abandoned, the poem, the questions,

the answers, abandoned, too,  a new way

and the essay, unexplained

as we sat, quiet and still, scared

and sobbing, wide-eyed, wondering;

 

this is not the lesson I had planned.

February

Don’t be misled, deceived

by the higher temperatures,

20s, 30s, blue skies and sunshine;

or a rodent predicting winter’s end.

Heaven's Hunter

The heaven’s hunter, Orion, familiar, easily found,

steadfast, a blessing, perhaps, in times of change,

looks down upon us from his place in the winter sky,

a tear falling at the loss of our stories, our lives, our selves.

Still Small Voice

That still small voice we’re taught to listen to is not so still anymore,

nor small, a flurry now of arms and legs and chattering, toddler size,

that small voice I held on my lap and rocked to sleep, followed behind

his clumsy steps to dust off the dirt when he fell, set him aright, and off

we go, reminding me what’s important, where life and purpose lie,

          a voice discovering himself and the world,

                    growing and learning and becoming … Cam.