Slam+Poetry

media type="youtube" key="neslRBRo_wc" height="315" width="420" Malapropism Simile Repetition Rhyme and Rythm Hyperbole Alliteration Onomateopia

Sunday nights I lie in bed awake— as all teachers do— and wait for sleep to come like the last student in my class to arrive. My grading is done, my lesson plans are in order, and still sleep wanders the hallways like Lower School music. I’m a teacher. This is what I do.

 Like a builder builds, or a sculptor sculpts , a preacher preaches, and a teacher teaches. We are experts in the art of explanation: I know the difference between questions to answer and questions to ask. That's an excellent question. What do you think?

If two boys are fighting, I break it up. But if two girls are fighting, I wait until it’s over <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and then I drag what’s left to the nurse’s office. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I’m not your mother, or your father, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">or your jailer, or your torturer, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">or your biggest fan in the whole wide world <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">even if sometimes I act like all of these things. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I know you can do these things I make you do. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">That’s why I make you do them. <span style="background-color: #a657ea; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I’m a teacher. This is what I do.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Once in a restaurant, when the waiter said "Can I bring you anything else?" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and I said, "No, thank you, just the check, please," <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and he said, "How about a look at the dessert menu?" <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I knew I had become a teacher when I said, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">"What did I just say? Please don’t make me repeat myself!"

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">In the quiet hours of the dawn <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I write assignment sheets and print them <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">without spell checking them. Because I’m a teacher, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and teachers don’t make spelling mistakes. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">So yes, as a matter of fact, the new dress cod <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">will apply to all members of the 5th, 6th, and 78th grades; <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and if you need an extension on your essays <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">examining The Pubic Wars from an hysterical perspective <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">you may have only until April 300th. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I hope that's not a problem for anybody.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I like to lecture on love and speak on responsibility. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">At the drop of a hat I will talk about <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">honour and integrity and the importance of telling the truth always. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">And when my students ask, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">“Are we going to be responsible for this?” <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I say, "If not you, then who? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">You think my generation will be responsible? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">We’re the ones who got you into this mess, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">now you are our only hope." <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">And when they say, “What we meant <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">was, "Will we be tested on this?’” <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I say " Every single day of your lives !"

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Once, while she was digging in her backpack for a pen, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I put on the desk of a student a pen, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">But she didn’t see me do it, so when I crossed <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">to the other side of the classroom and she raised her hand <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">still not seeing the pen I had put on her desk <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">and said, "Mr Mali, do you mind if I borrow a pen from you?" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">( insert noises of intensity and pure awesomeness I wish you would do this Mr Janzen) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">"You you already possess everything you require to succeed! Including a pen! Woosh ! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">For a second she still did not see the pen that I had put on her desk but said instead, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">“You are the weirdest teacher I have ever had, could you please just loan me a— <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Oh My God! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">You’re a miracle worker! How did you do that?” <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I just gave you what I knew you needed <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">before you knew you needed it. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Thank you for the compliment, but I'm just a teacher. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker. <span style="background-color: #a657ea; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">I’m a teacher. <span style="background-color: #a657ea; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Arial; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">And that’s what we do.

in this poem Taylor Mali used quite a few poetic devices such as malapropisms, alliteration and similes. A combination of these were used to make it a humorous poem, like in the last verse when he uses onomateopias make it more realistic. The use of repetition with the line"I'm a teacher, and that's what we do" reminded me that they were true experiences, and this is what they actually go through. I think the most important was rhythm. It made the poem flow, even though he kept changing subjects. That combined with the repetition made this poem come together. I think the theme of this poem is that everything, like teaching, has it's downsides, but at the same time it has it's good sides. When he tells of the sitting in the cafe I literally laughed, but when he said he stays up at night thinking it made it sort of serious. He seems to enjoy his students and getting to watch them evolve and grow through the course of a year. His students inspire him, so even though he has the bad sides, it's the good parts that make it worth it. I originally chose this poem because I knew nobody else was doing it. Later though, when tears starting falling down my face, I realized that this poem actually is amazing. The way he phrases everything makes it easy to relate to. When he talks about sitting at night awake, even though he has no reason to stay up, it reminds me of my many sleepless nights. In the last stanza, when he tells the story of the girl with the pen, I was reminded strongly of myself and the times when Chan and I are with each other. Not only have I been on the oblivious side, not realizing what's right in front of me, but I've also been on the side when I just get to sit back and laugh. This stanza also reflects how we just need to accept things, because at some point we will be on the out of it side, but it's worth it in the end.