Teacher Appreciation

Yesterday’s poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub celebrated Teachers’ Day in India. Punam challenged us to write a poem about our teacher.

New Poem

Precocious
~from the Latin praecox meaning early ripening

I remember Miss Bernie
who saw me
recognized the need
in a precocious child
and supplied a home-
made packet of extra
work. Not more reading,
not more math,
but art challenges, like
my failed line drawing
that still disappoints
this perfectionist. It
took a long time
to learn how to draw
the image I wanted
without taking
the pen off the page
a skill I now use often.

I’m still precocious
often the youngest
always thinking I’m
at least a year older than I am
But these days I create
my own packets of extra work
and my teacher is the mountain,
the lake, the sky,
eagle, blue heron,
hummingbird, and crow.
They teach me constancy
in constant dramatic change.
They teach me patient wisdom
and durable hope.
They teach me to continue
to soar and circle
to see the light on the waves
in drought or abundance
to stay present
and appreciate.