Poem for a viral Spring

"Viral Spring?" I really did have Spring fever today, the earliest first day of Spring in my lifetime... and it is the only fever I want right now.

I am still assembling a post with the big picture for Spring Break. Before the awe of this moment is over, I want to share my teacher-centric, big-picture perspective on this crisis. You are parents, and each day you find yourself interpreting the world to your children, just as I do. You might appreciate this poem:

The History Teacher

Trying to protect his student's innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.

And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.

The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
"How far is it from here to Madrid? 
"What do you call the matador's hat?"

The War of Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
on Japan.

The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,

while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.


Want to guess who the author is? Leave your guess - or thoughts - as a comment on this blog. I'll correct you if you're wrong! Then, I will also know if the comment feature is working on this blog. I've always had it turned off, and am opening it for the first time to support stronger communication between us!