Life is poetry and prose

Last night I went to see Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate for the United States at the Library of Congress. She reminded me of why poetry is so important. Some of my take-aways were:

• Poems ask us to submit to another experience of reality
• Poems are a means of self-preservation, a way of affirming commitment to the belief that our lives can and should matter to one another
• All Americans have something quietly urgent and human to offer one another
• Poems lead us more deeply into ourselves - then into commonalities - and give us new vocabulary
• Poetry makes us humble and vulnerable (it is "vulnerable-making" for both poet and audience)
• Good poems invite oneness. If there is an us vs them dynamic, it's bad poetry, even if it's has social justice themes.

I loved that she would talked about how a poem "behaves." And I love a poem that invites me into my spirituality!

Students Aren't Waiting on the World to Change

I used to really like John Mayer's song "Waiting on the World to Change." I thought he was speaking for me when he said, 
"Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it." 

The students I teach have reframed that for me. They believe that they do have the means to change the world. Today alone I supported students who led an assembly on disarmament, planned a town hall on gun violence, planned a brown bag lunch on the n-word, and led an inter-school discussion on what we can learn from other countries about gun legislation. When I was their age, I cared deeply about the world, but I thought of my sphere of influence as relatively minimal. Although I teach my students that they can make a difference no matter their sphere of influence, I don't think they place limits on the influence they can have. They are plugged in, motivated, and changing the world a day at a time. They have courage and confidence and they act inclusively and always mindful of being in solidarity with those on the margins. They are who I want to be when I grow up.

"soft or hard, love [i]s an act of heroism"

These words come from Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me. I saw them performed stunningly this weekend at "Between the World and Me: A Witnessing" at the Kennedy Center. Coates words were brilliantly brought to life by amazing Black performers of all sorts - Broadway stars, tv actors, a singer, a rapper, a tapper - and they were each transcendent.

The Temple

I'm obsessed with the song "The Temple" from Jesus Christ Superstar. It reminds me of how widely we are called to address evil in the world today, and how it can be overwhelming. We may not be Jesus, but each of us can be miracle workers in our own way, and we feel the cries of the needs of the world and know that we cannot bring our gifts to all of them, no matter how hard we try.