In pieces (Blog Post 1--Poem)

In pieces

I will let myself down.
I will wake up tired
and fall into bed, exhausted.
I will forget my friends;
messages left unread, unsent, misunderstood.
Or my friends will forget me,
moving along in the same routines
while I adjust and re-adjust and re-adjust
to a new schedule wrought with new challenges, new heartbreak.
Someone will leave their lunch tray
behind during tutoring and ground
their gum into the carpet, teeth imprints still visible.
My students will hate me, refusing
to follow rules, to work, to learn.
I will be entirely unequipped
and unqualified to teach my students
anything at all.
No matter how much research I do,
how many articles I read, I'll always fall short. If my students don't
leave my class
completely unprepared for life,
they'll leave my class at least unprepared for
the next grade level, unable to write a complete sentence, identify parts of speech,
and without any sense of how to behave
in any social setting whatsoever.
There are tales of men, and women.
Tales of men who are courageous, willing, strong.
Tales of women who overcome obstacles with
strength, dignity, and grace.
These men and women harbor a deep secret
within their hearts.
Through the struggle and the fear, these men
and women
tuck bits and pieces of their lives away.
Some pieces stay lodged in their hearts, their minds, their journals,
to remind them of the victories.
Other pieces are dislodged and discarded; not forgotten--
instead unremembered.
Every hug, high-five, shout-out across the hallway;
every smile, joke, story told
is a piece to be tucked away.