Dear student, as you
leave my class,
allow me to share
some advice and some
hopes, I have,
for you.
Don’t leave the words
and their power
Here
As you go
There.
Don’t be so fast to
walk away from them,
from it.
I hope for you
that poetry continues
to
confuse and delight
with ideas that
challenge and
frighten
lift and flood
you.
that stories give you
eyes
into spaces you
cannotwillnot go,
and force you outside
and into parts
of yourself,
of places you are
safe.
that characters make
you weep
and exalt
and want to be more
than you were before
you met them.
I hope for you
--all your life--
that words
make you laugh and
cry,
take you to depths
and heights of
love, and joy, and
pain.
make you wonder
with eyes wide open.
make you better.
Because they are so
much bigger than
that exam you’re
taking
that essay you failed
Because they will
--if you let them,
dear student,--
set fire to your world.
Miss Bell, October 2012
Where were you when I was studying English?
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ReplyDeleteOh Beks, please come here. I need you.
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