The joys of teaching...

On Tuesday evening, in my Composition II class, we busted out some crazy rhyme schemes and mad assonant beats. By this, of course, I mean poetry. Yes.

To get their composition-loving feet wet, I assigned a dozen poems for homework. True, I had read the majority of the poems I assigned beforehand, but one escaped me. When I was preparing for class I stumbled upon this happy surprise, and the poem hit me. I can't pinpoint it, but it evoked emotion and stirred something inside of me. Maybe urgency...maybe desire...both emotions the poet is conveying, among others. And that is what good poetry should do. Affect.

In teaching the poem, I know I relayed my passion for the work...and in talking to my students, several of them had emotional reactions to Pastan's words. Earlier this evening, I received an e-mail from one of my students explaining how this particular poem impacted her and how she didn't feel she could share her emotions or opinions in class, but she just wanted to let me know. I loved that e-mail. I love knowing how words can cause chain reactions from the page to your mind and through your body. In short, I am a nerd.

Shared passions. Slight nods of affirmation. Excited looks that say, "Yes, I get it. I know exactly what the author/poet means, but I've never been able to express it that well." These are the joys of teaching.


love poem by Linda Pastan

I want to write you
a love poem as headlong
as our creek
after thaw
when we stand
on its dangerous
banks and watch it carry
with it every twig
every dry leaf and branch
in its path
every scruple
when we see it
so swollen
with runoff
that even as we watch
we must grab
each other
and step back
we must grab each
other or
get our shoes
soaked we must
grab each other