March Eve

This blank page will visit me every day next month
tomorrow
and I will remember what my students feel
when they stare at their blank page
so blank

Today we generated ideas for next week’s poetry
and one boy wrote
stuff
stuff
stuff
like he was an advertisement for a tired second-grader
resistant
not to writing but to directions

I wrote a terrible poem today with my class
but they liked it
with smiles and laughter
chatter chatter chatter
which just goes to show you
that the writer often doesn’t know
what the reader will like

In reading today, my student teacher asked
How do you feel when you read?
What emotions do books give you?
I watched as kids wrote the words
calm, happy, funny
I listened to one student say
That doesn’t make any sense, there are no emotions
inside
a book!
Which just goes to show you
that the reader often doesn’t know either

So tomorrow there won’t be school
Saturday
Saturday
Saturday
But I will still feel what my students feel when they
stare at
the
blank
page

and then,
then I will write
stuff