My Students - A Poem

I wrote this the other day and posted it for a few people on facebook, but I realized my blog is also a good place for it. It was inspired by my worst class, when I was watching them take their final exams and suddenly was flushed with pity and warmth for them, even though they usually make me want to pull out my own hair and throw it at them. Which I would never do, but it's the best way I can think of to describe the way they typically make me feel. Other adjectives to desrcibe how they often make me feel could include: frustrated, outraged, nonplussed, distraught, and crestfallen. But on this one day - after they almost made one of the Korean staff members cry before she shouted that they made her very angry and slammed the door on the way out, forgetting her clipboard in the process - on this one day I watched them struggle through a test that seemed too hard for them, watched them squirm and wiggle and sigh and roll their eyes. And since I didn't have to try to teach them on that day - since I only had to proctor the test, watching them wish they were anywhere else, I felt, deep down, the need to write. It's not my best work, but it's a short glimpse of what my students bring out in me - in a positive way.

my students

they sit
heads bent
shoulders hunched
as if Confucius
himself were sitting
on their necks,
breaking their
spirits with his
mandates.
their eyes
hold secrets
I can't see
or understand
and they would never tell me
even if they could.
i want to sweep them
into my arms
and wrap them
in quilts
so soft
so they can sleep.
and when they wake
i wish them
just one
timeless
day
to spend as children,
not robots
training
for more workdays
endlessly stretching
in every
direction,
the only way
they've been told to be.