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Poems - Huddled Masses
| | Huddled Massesby varivas
a pantoum
A fire drill at 8 below zero
must not be a drill. Those are announced.
We are in shirtsleeves, sweaters at best.
Kids can’t go to lockers. Straight outside.
Must not be a drill, those are announced,
I hear another teacher saying.
Kids can’t go to lockers, straight outside,
but this teacher is wearing a coat.
I hear another teacher saying.
Good thing my coat was in the room.
But this teacher is wearing a coat
while her students shiver in the cold.
Good thing my coat was in the room
I share, not here with me. I call kids,
while her students shiver in the cold,
suggest we huddle close together.
I share. Not here with me, I call kids,
the ones wandering away from the group,
suggest we huddle close together,
get cold looks, disgust, in response from
the ones wandering away from the group.
The ones closest move closer still, touch;
get cold looks, disgust, in response from
others at first. It is warmer, so
the ones closest move closer still, touch.
Jason, in shirtsleeves, skinny arms shake
others at first. It is warmer, so
everyone calms down, huddles closer.
Jason, in shirtsleeves, skinny arms shake,
encircled by classmates, gets warmer.
Everyone calms down, huddles closer.
We laugh, complain we can’t feel our ears.
Encircled by classmates, gets warmer.
We are in shirtsleeves, sweaters at best.
We laugh, complain we can’t feel our ears.
A fire drill at 8 below zero.
* * * * *
Author Notes
In 2005, I was 51 years old and decided to change careers from computer programmer to math teacher. My first year teaching -- remedial math at an inner city middle school -- I decided to write a poem per week to keep my sanity. I kept 90% of the poems and worked on them for the next year. This is poem 15, and it has a bit of backstory.
Jason, the skinny kid in the poem is white, where the kids huddled all around keeping him warm, were black. There is racism in this school, but it all but disappeared that day. That was what the poem was SUPPOSED to be about but sometimes poems need to find their own paths as this one did.
What is a pantoum?
from Poetry Pointers by Al Rocheleau
Made popular in the nineteenth century, the French and English call [this] elaborate form the pantoum, a poem in which the second and fourth lines of a stanza become the first and third lines of the next stanza, and lace together somewhat like a corset on a French tart as the poem of proceeds. The modern pantoum can be any length the poet wishes but will usually end (at least the English version does) with the first line of the poem repeated as the last line of the poem, and the third line of the poem (third line of the first quatrain) as the second line of the last quatrain. Get that?
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Dear Varivas.....a b
(Score: 1 )
by silent_lotus on Monday, May 26, 2008 (17:55:40) |
Dear Varivas.....a brave move into the land of education...may the children be blest with your teaching gifts......and your poeming.....a warm smile....silent lotus
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Dear Varivas.....a b
(Score: 1 )
by varivas on Monday, May 26, 2008 (20:24:13) |
Thanks so much for your great review, and the move was much braver than I knew when I made it. If I had known what I was getting into, I probably wouldn't have done it, but now that I'm here, well, I'm here.
 Added on: 25-May-2008 | Hits: 1049 |
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01: wordsmithwan...
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