Witness

You are the shard of light
flashing from a spoon’s hollow—
and like everything infinite
I cannot touch the softness
below your ear ever again.
Why, my own face
reminds me of yours,
for in these eyes
even strangers see
all that I became
in loving you. All
that I believed, witnessed, lost
and learned over eight centuries.
Even my child can see longing and defeat
playing against the iris’ defiant fire.

Naming Jack

There is nowhere I can go
that you are not present.
The hairpin turn that took us
away then returned us home.
The overlook where you placed silver
in my daughter’s palm so she could see
April’s gray bowl of valley.
The very museum window
through which we looked out upon rushing
brown water, red brick from another century
and hills that leave only a thin strip of sky.
This is the cost of living in a small place.
I came here to escape my life
without you, forgetting
that everywhere we’ve ever been
will always be ours. When we last
climbed that winding mountain road—side
by side—we were busy choosing
a name for the puppy we’d soon have.
Like expectant parents, we were too full
imagining a future to realize
the moment we were living
could be all we’d have left
once we drove into that cloud.

To a Teacher

This is the first time in my life as an educator & a parent that I have felt tremendous & absolute pride in the country that I represent & have brought my child into. What I am about to say may seem overstated, but I feel in my bones, in my cells, new hope for the survival of our planet & its childrens’ children. We have a chance to create a different fate than the tragic one we have been hurling ourselves toward. I believe that having a profoundly intelligent, well-educated, international president can cultivate a deep, lasting respect, desire & commitment to learning in this country.

While teaching yesterday, I was reminded of just how urgent our work is as educators: a freshman student asked, “What is Watergate?” I asked the class to raise their hands if they had the same question & numerous hands went up. While there are wide gaps in my own education, I struggle to imagine a college student in 2008 that has never even heard the word Watergate—a part of recent history that dramatically eroded our nation’s confidence in its own leaders & resulted in a president’s resignation. How ironic to have a student ask this question on the very day our nation is choosing its next president, a leader to replace one who betrayed our nation & the world & should have been impeached, not pardoned.

Our ignorance is deadly.  Our work as educators has never been more essential than now. Finally, we have a leader who believes in what we do.

(for Shoba)