Slice of Life/SmallPoems Day 27 (teacher parade)

(I am participating in the March Slice of Life challenge via the Two Writing Teachers site.  Slice of Life is the idea of noticing the small moments. I have been a participant for many years and each year, I wonder if I will have the energy to write every day. This year, I am going to try to coincide it with my daily poetry writing, and intend to compose small poems on small moments. We’ll see how it goes …)

Day Twenty Seven

It’s just smile after smile;
just mile after mile –
streets and sidewalks
and lawns lined
with faces not seen
in weeks – you wave
and wave and wave –
you find yourself smiling
with hardly strength
to speak, just motion
of mobile movement,
settling in with disbelief;
your front seat sadness
colliding with this madness,
even in temporary relief

Note: You may have seen school communities organizing these Car Parades, where the school staff keeps the social distancing by driving (each in own cars) through the community, to see students again, if only briefly. We did that yesterday, thanks to the organization prowess of a colleague. We had more than 50 cars driving for two hours throughout our town, following bus routes across the entire community. So many kids were ready for us (a message had gone out) and it was heartening, uplifting to see families together, waving and shouting and holding up signs of support for the school, and teachers, and for each other. It was the first time seeing many of my students since our abrupt closure on Friday the 13th (yeah, that day). What joy, mixed with sadness, too, that we find ourselves in this situation. I think we teachers needed it as much as families needed it — that connection reminder. We do the best we can do. (more)

Peace (traveling the distance),
Kevin

7 Comments
  1. Experiences like this seems so surreal. I am glad you found a way to connect with students. I think the academic planning piece seems easier to plan at times than the social emotional piece.

  2. An awkward parade, to be sure. It will be an interesting memory for the students as well, this waving from afar. What teachers and students are doing I hope is going far to flatten the pandemic curve.

  3. You conjure those magical moments…the temporary (but needed) relief. 50 cars for almost 2 hours! Wow! That is amazing. I’ve seen most of my students on Google Meet this week–and we all love the opportunity to see each other. Connection–even at a distance is so important.

    How was it that our last day with our students ended up being Friday the 13th? Ah, the irony.

    Kim

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