Friday, August 21, 2009

Friday poetry challenge: first-day nightmares

Students await my
entrance, shifting in their seats.
But where are my clothes?

Where is my classroom?
Why are my teeth falling so
freely from my mouth?


Your turn: what are your worst first-day nightmares?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes- exposed a fraud.
I don't have ALL the answers-
I just teach this stuff!

Bardiac said...

LOL, that's great.

Mine would have something to do with suddenly having to teach calculus.

Jessica said...

I walk down the hall
and find myself on the roof
where is my office?

I'm terribly lost
and no person can tell me
the right way to go.

I'll go down the stairs
but now I'm in the East Wing,
looking quite stupid.

Walk toward the West Wing
and end up on the third floor -
cry like a baby.

Keira said...

The clock reads quarter after
seven; I am lost.
My students twitch and snarl,
awaiting my soft and bending
bones.
I, invisible, arrive
to meet chaos. My voice catches
in my tonsils, my mind wanders, lost. My notes are still
on the corner of my desk
at home.
Jake, the sneering boy jeers
and won't stop texting.
I would yell, but my voice vanished
with my clothes.

Bev said...

Wonderful work...and let me just say how terrific it feels to see my former students taking their rightful places in the front of the classroom. May all your first days be nightmare-free.

The Hot Heads Groupie said...

Quite long ago, though not far away
I sat on a football field on a toasty June day
I wore cap, gown and heels and the future looked bright
As I moved moved my orange tassel to the left from the right.
I left high school behind and set out on my path
And all was OK ‘til last Fall’s economic bloodbath
Now I’m back in the classroom, this time as a sub
Trying to outsmart kids who text under desks about hot nights at the club
I’m facing rolled eyes and language that’s blue
Incomplete lesson plans and now the swine flu
What are my nightmares about this year’s day one?
Can’t think of any. Bring on the fun!


Hope this year is full of more than a few PLEASANT unexpected surprises, Bev! XX00 B