Part I:  To Teach

I am the color brown –

like milky sweet coffee

in the morning,

like the soft earth after a thunderstorm.

I am full brown foliage

heavy from summer rains,

renewed by young minds,

tentacles of tree tusks

probing.

I am green

like bursts of spring

spreading the fragrance of education.

I am a yellow flower,

bright, beckoning –

dancing buttercups

begging for play,

sunflowers stretching to be taller.

I come alive in the classroom.

I am red.

I want to go, to know,

to lead, to show.

I am pinkalicious!

An expanding bubble ready to POP!

A pink highlighter

trying to get your attention,

lighting the path

to self esteem and respect.

I am blue

the robes of the Virgin Mary,

the sky above.

I am orange,

the perfect melting

of passion and sunshine,

a burst of citrus flavor – with pulp.

Orange, like an evening sunset,

ready to sleep.

I am a blank white slate.

Part II:  To Learn

If I were an animal

I would be a chameleon,

blending, muting, watching,

but rarely seen.

I am from a home

where education was a struggle.

I’d be an eagle

building my nest in the tallest tree,

to raise my children well and safe.

I am from an era that said,

“You’re a girl.  You can’t do this!”

I’d be a polar bear –

soft and cute on the outside,

strong and fearless within.

I am from washing clothes in tin tubs

with a rub board and lye soap,

from sisters sharing

discarded church hats.

I’d be a cuddly cat

sitting in my owners lap,

fastidiously cleaning my fur,

seemingly oblivious.

A Florida panther,

gliding through cypress trees,

jumping into ravines,

resting in pine needles.

I’d be a lion king,

a bird singing out a melody,

a giraffe

as tall as she is graceful,

a dragon reigning over the land

to see and conquer

what is in front of me.

I would be a watch dog

carefully guarding,

always protecting.

A true friend,

a guide dog for the blind,

a fire dog riding in the fire truck

hoping to help.

Man’s best friend

on the front seat of an old Chevy pick-up

going down a shady country road.

I am from rural Florida, orange groves, tall rows of corn,

from the blue bonnets that fill

the medians of Texas highways in spring,
from a traditional Columbian family,

from France, from Nova Scotia,

from La Frontera,

from a language that nobody else

spoke at school.

I am learning to shine,

to leave the dark denseness behind,

embracing a new life,

getting to know

the world.

Part III:  Together

We are the sound of applause,

cheering each other on,

celebrating success,

a job well done,

I knew you could do it all along.

We are not silent.

The clapping is sometimes thunderous,

other times sporadic, uncertain,

but always powerful

always uplifting –

The echo of confidence

ringing in our ears!

A Found Poem

Written at Open Books Open Minds 2007