National Day On Writing

Today is the official, National Day on Writing. NCTE (National Council for the Teaching of English) has opened a site for educators and students to share their writing in an impressive, ongoing online collection. I chose to upload one piece of many that I wrote randomly while subbing in local schools. I do poetic drive bys as I meet new students and as they watch the movie the teacher left behind or fill out mindless worksheets, I collect a word from each kid and see what sort of poetic doodle I can create. I normally don't keep the random poems, but I found this quirky one today. It was while subbing for a talented and gifted class and they gave me some tricky words to play with.

Happy Writing Day!

Because I am untalented and ungifted I write you this poem
Today I’m a genius, a moron at school,
assigned to teach the intellectual drool of
this Lollypop guild of junior high kids.

I’m not very good at this,
but I try,

Why?

Because I’m a somnabulist
sleepwalking wide awake,
a leptektatium leprechaun
writing to make the Earth shake.

I’m a periwinkle llama,
a czechlosovachian noodle,
a doo-rag mullet head,
& both a sausage and a poodle.

I was once planted as a ficus,
but lost focus, hocus pocus,
and even if my roots were dug deep in New York clay,
I branched my stubborn intellect in urban diversity.

Knowledge is my pudding and I eat it with a spoon,
walking as a sapien, and swimming like a loon.

Bibbity Bobbity Bappity Boo,
I ask these little brainiacs, whatcha talkn’ about fool?

I scribble my words in uncopywritable ways,
and moonwalk the horizon one phase at a time,
working with textual lies, symbolically sublime
playing with word-art and Dr. Seuss rhyme,
a liopleurodon booger all sticky with slime.

I’m a crab in a kilt, baking crabcakes with peppers,
sponging the souls of the healthy and lepers,
and as I live life in full-fledged martyrdom,
I’m amazed by the puzzles of Aztec Tinochtium.

Across white pages I do my poetic polka,
a crooked eye freak quite proud of his Babushka.

I scat and I rap as a frog with Ms. Piggy,
together we dance, and sometimes get jiggy,
and if we should spawn, we’d call one Pollywog Figgy,

Cuz today I’m a genius, a moron at school,
assigned to another day of intellectual drool,
untalented
ungifted
Just an idiot and fool,
and proud I was never seen as too smart,
instead, I was known as a bratty, punk fart
back in the day, in this hall.

Always on a journey with my muses, y’all.