by Chris Brockman
Member since:
March 16, 2007

The World in a Window

April 10, 2012 05:23 PM UTC
views: 0 | 11 people recommend this | comments: 30

Feverish Vision

 

The classroom window frames promise.

The spring trees are freshly painted,

The spice of their blossoms lingers

From the walk to class,

The breeze invites the leaves along

On its trip back to Eden.

 

Inside, the promise of return

On time and effort invested has

Fallen out of students’ portfolios.

Florescent lights can’t penetrate

To the shadowy, muted instructor

As students look at the world in the window.



Chris Brockman

Comments: 30

Granny Janny Apr 10, 2012, 5:42pm UTC
When I think of all the classrooms windows I looked through...especially during spring....
You have painted a very evocative poem, Chris.
Chris Brockman Apr 10, 2012, 8:14pm UTC
It's really just a description of last Thursday afternoon. I was the shadowy instructor.
Granny Janny Apr 10, 2012, 9:25pm UTC
I wish I could come to your class.
Jeanette Cheezum Apr 10, 2012, 7:16pm UTC
This brings back memories.
Chris Brockman Apr 10, 2012, 8:14pm UTC
I hope they are good ones, Jeanette!
Jeanette Cheezum Apr 11, 2012, 12:16am UTC
Thanks, more good than bad.
Kushal Poddar Apr 10, 2012, 9:22pm UTC
The freshly painted classroom trees,
to the new leaves I teach the root.
Kushal Poddar Apr 10, 2012, 9:23pm UTC
hundred-monkeys
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 8:01pm UTC
That's exactly right, Kushal. You do teach us the roots with your poetry.
Kushal Poddar Apr 11, 2012, 8:35pm UTC
Did you see the senryu for you. Posted at Gather and also here:
senryu-for-chris-brockman.html
JOHN BECK Apr 10, 2012, 10:47pm UTC
I don't envy teachers, especially those with windows in the classroom, when nice Spring weather rolls around. Good one, Chris.
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 8:04pm UTC
Thanks, John. Truth is (but don't tell anyone) It was I looking out the window and writing this poem while my students were taking a quiz. This class doesn't need an external excuse for not paying attention.
William Dotani Apr 11, 2012, 2:14am UTC
Your last line seems reflective. You touch this seasonal experience in imagery.
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 8:07pm UTC
This was my last class of the day. I was ready to go out into those images.
William Dotani Apr 12, 2012, 2:23am UTC
I remember that feeling, the want to escape into whatever one may call normal, but something about the classroom will visit and still dwell into tomorrow.
Karen E. Apr 11, 2012, 2:50am UTC
We snatched those brief moments to dream, to travel afar and to enjoy the spring views...that is, until we were called back to the tasks at hand. I was a bit of a dreamer until my high school years when I began to connect the day's work to the goal before me.
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 7:58pm UTC
it seems to me you're still a bit of a dreamer, and that you are connecting those dreams with your work and your goals. Am I wrong?
Karen E. Apr 12, 2012, 2:18am UTC
Chris, your writing really touched me and brought me back to a younger Karen that stared out of windows. I guess I would call that "day dreaming" but it was not productive dreaming. My dreams began in high school when, in an odd turn of events, my counselor told me that I did not have the IQ to make it in nursing school. Yes, I cried very hard as it was my childhood passion to be a nurse. I would nurse little animals, my family, my dolls and whatever came my way that looked wounded. It had been my dream and though that counsel shook me to my core, it caused me to work harder at my goal. I am so glad that I did not listen to my counselor. I agreed that I was not particularly smart but I knew that I could care for people with great heart. I worked all the harder at my studies and in nursing school made exceptional grades. I became and am still becomming the nurse that my dreams opened.
elizabeth evans Apr 11, 2012, 4:40am UTC
Oh, yes....as spring comes skipping through the school environment....all thoughts of reading and writing goes out the window.

Out in the bush, when I was teaching Inuit high school students, school was over when the birds came back. I remember being in my World History class when we heard geese honking....the kids just ran out of the classroom. School was over for the year!
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 7:59pm UTC
Or in some sense it had just opened.
Bernard C. Apr 11, 2012, 4:50am UTC
An interesting point and view

Thanks for sharing and submitting to
The Surreal Circus.
Chris Brockman Apr 11, 2012, 8:04pm UTC
Thanks you, Bernard. It was indeed the view that was interesting.
G.M. Jackson Apr 22, 2012, 8:42pm UTC
Nicely done! Students might pay attention if you cover that window.
Chris Brockman Apr 23, 2012, 8:28pm UTC
Someone had pulled the blinds from that square of window before my class, and in truth, it was me who was looking out the window and writing this poem while my students were taking a quiz.
Barbary Chaapel Apr 29, 2012, 3:16pm UTC
Ah, remembering those days thanks to your evocative poem, Chris.
Chris Brockman Apr 30, 2012, 5:03pm UTC
I'm glad you seem to remember them fondly. I remember the good parts about my years teaching AG Language Arts, and I'm friends with many of my former students (by their invitation only) on FB.
Svetlana Goryacheva Apr 29, 2012, 6:16pm UTC
A very vivid picture, what makes it even more impressive... and refreshing... and memorable. :-) Excellent, dear Chris!

Blessings and best wishes always - S.
Chris Brockman Apr 30, 2012, 5:04pm UTC
Gee, thanks Svetlana. I see and hear your postings on FB frequently!
René Allen Jun 4, 2012, 1:58pm UTC
I enjoyed this Chris ~ Thanks for sharing this poetic piece with us in Artistic Minds®.
Chris Brockman Jun 4, 2012, 5:46pm UTC
Thank you for reading, Rene'.

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