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NOTES TO MYSELF AT 3am

It’s okay
Today’s today
You don’t need
To find a way
To fix it all
Know what to say
To answer
Defend
Or explain away
To understand
Your lack of plan
To wish
You’d been a better man
What has been is
Stop looking back
To forgive yourself
Is the new black
What has been is
But what will be’s open
Nonetheless
Restrain the hoping
Relax and breathe
It’ll be okay
Just love yourself
Just for today

A Transcended You

Good morning, everyone! Welcome, parents, teachers, and dignitaries, to the Symposium on World Education here at the United Nations. I am delighted to be here and honored to have been chosen as your key-note speaker. My remarks today address the topic of transcendental violence in education, which is one of Jacques Derrida’s old ideas. If you’ve never heard this phrase before, I implore you not to be alarmed. It’s not what you think. 

My remarks are in the form of a poem so I humbly ask for your indulgence. It is called “A Transcended You.” 

According to dear old Derrida,

Education is violent,

In a transcendental way.

But what does that mean?

Is it a violation of sovereignty?

A hard punch in the primacy?

Not really.

It means that learning,

Is not meant to be leisurely.

We educators promise,

Not to leave you broken,

Bruised, and bloody.

But you may feel a slight pinch,

When we grab you by your detached brain,

And reattach it using gentle, illuminating

Benevolent violence.

We’re going beat back your passiveness,

And ambush your apathy,

We shall invade your ignorance,

Infiltrate your indifference,

And shine the light of knowledge,

On your dispassion. 

You may be disturbed, disoriented,

And a little lightheaded.

As you lift up into the light of learning.

But you will be okay.

And you will still be you,

Forever and always, uniquely you.

But an ascended you.

A transcended you.

Thank you very much for your kind attention. 

Imbolc

Today more winter is behind us,

Than remains in front of us.

For today’s the day of Imbolc!

A day when all the ancient folk,

Would celebrate the coming spring.

Back then it was a greater thing,

But if you look around, with any luck,

You’ll see a marmot or woodchuck,

Sticking his head out of the ground,

Checking if his shadow can be found.

How this started, no one knows.

But if he sees it, back he goes!

If you’re wondering how to celebrate,

Just light some candles. Dance! Create!

Clean your house or bake some bread.

Put a lampshade on your head.

Celebrate without a worry.

Or you could just watch a certain film,

That stars the great Bill Murray.

MAYBE?

Maybe I need,
Inner peace,
Some sense of deep release,
To reach existential answers that lay within,
Shaking off the old,
Shedding my proverbial skin,
Continually looking in the same old mirror,
Hoping vainly somehow for a reflection that’s clearer,
As I search for the better,
Through word and through letter,
I find that my mind wanders instead,
As experience raises its ugly head,
But it is what it is,
There’s nothing wrong with that.
Maybe I just need a new hat.