Happy Teacher Appreciation Week - Yvonne Brown
A poem for you High School Reality I want to cry. I want to cry for the class clown who starves at home while his mother gets her hair done for the twins that received their mother’s blood stained shoes after she was smooshed by a car on Valentine’s Day for one of the twins, who feared their mother was going to hell for what she did on earth, “Ms. Brown, she was an alcoholic.” I want to cry for the quiet student who knows her mother was placed in an insane asylum for the senior who wrote his own obituary two weeks before he was killed after graduation for his baby brother’s mental health as he watched his friend’s sport RIP shirts all over school for the good kid-gone bad- and his struggle to turn it all around. I want to cry for the students who grieve in class over a murdered 15 year old classmate for the heirlooms of racism that some parents pass down to their children I want to pray. I want to pray for the angry young man that fights others to hide his pacemaker for the sixteen year old girl whose father is a crack addict and mother with AIDS for her courage to cleanse the stereotype of a “crack baby” I pray for the parents that kill themselves to avoid losing another child for the fifteen year old mother who passes her sonogram around class- oblivious to the added challenges of her tender future I pray for the child that knows “ghetto” is a state of mind and the difference between Medicaid and Carefirst I pray for the gang member that wants to get out but does not know how for the young man that lives in a seven bedroom house and wants the streets to accept him I pray for the teacher’s fortitude to serve the community for they make a differenceeven when the “thank yous” are scarce and the demands are high keep treading on your purpose is to help, encourage, and give hope on the darkest day Your role is to be there. - Yvonne Brown 2007 41 Comments
Tamara 5/6/2013 01:38:25 pm
Powerful, very Profound! Thank you for not only teaching but for teaching where you taught who you taught. This isn't every teachers path,it was yours and it takes something extremely special to still get through to children that don't just have soccer practice after school. Thank you for helping to ensure that this generation of children are educated and loved! <3
5/6/2013 01:47:45 pm
Thank you for refueling me Tamara! Love you!
5/6/2013 11:51:31 pm
Cry baby cry Reply
5/7/2013 10:59:43 pm
and people wonder how I came up the title! lol
5/7/2013 12:28:50 am
woo! that was very powerful!
5/7/2013 11:00:13 pm
Thanks Rob! I'm glad it moved you!
5/7/2013 01:29:08 am
I had such a teacher in high school. As a foster child I would not have gone on to college had it not been for her tears crying for my potential to be fulfilled. That was a long time ago. Thank you for bringing this memory forward.
5/7/2013 11:01:13 pm
Thank you so much for sharing Roz. We have some things in common!
5/7/2013 03:27:21 am
Wonderful poem Ivonne, as a teacher you know so many stories, and makes a difference in the life of each one of students in different ways! Thank you!
5/7/2013 11:01:55 pm
Teaching has taught me so much about myself and the world around me.
5/7/2013 04:46:03 am
My daughter is a teacher, and can have a very soft hear. I know she will be a good one, but worry about her when it comes to things like this. Great and powerful post.
5/7/2013 11:03:48 pm
Thanks for sharing Bradley! I understand your worries. I pray for your daughter and her students to have a peaceful learning environment filled with compassion and understanding for one another. Best wishes.
5/7/2013 06:21:29 am
Thanks for sharing such a great and powerful poem!
5/7/2013 07:34:56 am
5/7/2013 08:02:09 am
Thank you Yvonne - Inspiring
5/7/2013 08:13:13 am
Thanks for this lovely poem - Teachers sure make other professions possible!
5/7/2013 09:39:21 am
Thank you for sharing such a deep and emotional poem.
5/7/2013 10:02:36 am
WOW! Great poem girl! We finally get to see one by YOU :) I love it, thanks so much for sharing it with us. Reply
5/7/2013 11:04:31 pm
You are too sweet Robin! Thanks for your support!
5/7/2013 12:16:55 pm
Thank you for sharing this heartfelt poem. Reply
5/7/2013 12:56:33 pm
5/7/2013 11:16:52 pm
This was beautifully written...I could picture each child in their own situation and my heart ached and it swelled with love for each one of them AND for the TEACHERS who love them through. Thank you Yvonne!
5/7/2013 11:19:28 pm
PROFOUND!!! What a deep read. I pray for the children of today cause I thought it was hard when I was coming up it is much more harder for them.Im so glad to read a piece from you what a pleasure Reply
5/8/2013 02:47:56 am
Thanks! I appreciate any time light is shed on the reality of teaching.
5/8/2013 04:10:51 am
Wonderful poem it is, thank you.
5/8/2013 09:05:32 am
My heart breaks for these babies...and all they have to deal with as they are shoved into an adult world too soon....thanks for sharing your heart with us!
5/8/2013 09:43:53 am
Moving, thanks for sharing the gentle reminders and making me yet again grateful for the life I have every day!
5/8/2013 12:58:19 pm
Great poem Reply
5/9/2013 01:54:33 am
Incredible! Raised so many memories and at the same time reminded me of what my Kaitlyn is experiencing as a freshman this year! Thanks!
5/9/2013 04:30:21 am
WOW! that was incredible. It tugged at so many different emotions. Thank you so much for sharing this!
5/9/2013 04:48:44 am
Wow! That was so intense. I related because I actually have student sin the alternative ed high school program in which I teach that experience some of those same situations you mentioned above..intense! Thank you
5/9/2013 01:43:51 pm
Yvonne, I'm so sorry that my appreciation for poetry hasn't been greater. This poem reached the depths of my heart. I saw your classroom through these words. I visited many daily lives that otherwise I would not have known...thank you. Beautiful.
5/10/2013 03:11:44 am
Being a child care provider and volunteer aid at a gifted school and reading this have me thinking about so much. Those children who may be hiding so much from people around them.
5/10/2013 12:26:20 pm
Awww.... so sad. Lump here. x0x
5/10/2013 11:40:18 pm
Such a great and powerful poem. This poem shows our situation in life. Thanks for sharing.
5/11/2013 12:02:27 am
Wow! This is powerful and very moving. Thanks for sharing with us.
5/11/2013 06:31:49 am
Very inspiring poem, Yvonne, thanks for sharing it!
5/12/2013 09:02:16 pm
Powerful poem...then I calculated how many years it has now been since HS...that scared me...lol
5/12/2013 10:39:04 pm
What a deep and moving piece! Thank you for sharing!
5/13/2013 01:10:07 am
I like the line that says "I want to cry for the class clown who starves at home while his mother gets her hair done" because it is true that the people who smile the most and always cracks jokes are the ones that have to struggle at home - the make the jokes to hide their pain. Reply
5/13/2013 07:06:14 pm
What an amazing tribute. Your words are still ringing in my ears. Awesome poem - truly!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week - Yvonne Brown
A poem for you High School Reality I want to cry. I want to cry for the class clown who starves at home while his mother gets her hair done for the twins that received their mother’s blood stained shoes after she was smooshed by a car on Valentine’s Day for one of the twins, who feared their mother was going to hell for what she did on earth, “Ms. Brown, she was an alcoholic.” I want to cry for the quiet student who knows her mother was placed in an insane asylum for the senior who wrote his own obituary two weeks before he was killed after graduation for his baby brother’s mental health as he watched his friend’s sport RIP shirts all over school for the good kid-gone bad- and his struggle to turn it all around. I want to cry for the students who grieve in class over a murdered 15 year old classmate for the heirlooms of racism that some parents pass down to their children I want to pray. I want to pray for the angry young man that fights others to hide his pacemaker for the sixteen year old girl whose father is a crack addict and mother with AIDS for her courage to cleanse the stereotype of a “crack baby” I pray for the parents that kill themselves to avoid losing another child for the fifteen year old mother who passes her sonogram around class- oblivious to the added challenges of her tender future I pray for the child that knows “ghetto” is a state of mind and the difference between Medicaid and Carefirst I pray for the gang member that wants to get out but does not know how for the young man that lives in a seven bedroom house and wants the streets to accept him I pray for the teacher’s fortitude to serve the community for they make a differenceeven when the “thank yous” are scarce and the demands are high keep treading on your purpose is to help, encourage, and give hope on the darkest day Your role is to be there. - Yvonne Brown 2007 41 Comments
Tamara 5/6/2013 01:38:25 pm
Powerful, very Profound! Thank you for not only teaching but for teaching where you taught who you taught. This isn't every teachers path,it was yours and it takes something extremely special to still get through to children that don't just have soccer practice after school. Thank you for helping to ensure that this generation of children are educated and loved! <3
5/6/2013 01:47:45 pm
Thank you for refueling me Tamara! Love you!
5/6/2013 11:51:31 pm
Cry baby cry Reply
5/7/2013 10:59:43 pm
and people wonder how I came up the title! lol
5/7/2013 12:28:50 am
woo! that was very powerful!
5/7/2013 11:00:13 pm
Thanks Rob! I'm glad it moved you!
5/7/2013 01:29:08 am
I had such a teacher in high school. As a foster child I would not have gone on to college had it not been for her tears crying for my potential to be fulfilled. That was a long time ago. Thank you for bringing this memory forward.
5/7/2013 11:01:13 pm
Thank you so much for sharing Roz. We have some things in common!
5/7/2013 03:27:21 am
Wonderful poem Ivonne, as a teacher you know so many stories, and makes a difference in the life of each one of students in different ways! Thank you!
5/7/2013 11:01:55 pm
Teaching has taught me so much about myself and the world around me.
5/7/2013 04:46:03 am
My daughter is a teacher, and can have a very soft hear. I know she will be a good one, but worry about her when it comes to things like this. Great and powerful post.
5/7/2013 11:03:48 pm
Thanks for sharing Bradley! I understand your worries. I pray for your daughter and her students to have a peaceful learning environment f
illed with compassion and understanding for one another. Best wishes.
5/7/2013 06:21:29 am
Thanks for sharing such a great and powerful poem!
5/7/2013 07:34:56 am
5/7/2013 08:02:09 am
Thank you Yvonne - Inspiring
5/7/2013 08:13:13 am
Thanks for this lovely poem - Teachers sure make other professions possible!
5/7/2013 09:39:21 am
Thank you for sharing such a deep and emotional poem.
5/7/2013 10:02:36 am
WOW! Great poem girl! We finally get to see one by YOU :) I love it, thanks so much for sharing it with us. Reply
5/7/2013 11:04:31 pm
You are too sweet Robin! Thanks for your support!
5/7/2013 12:16:55 pm
Thank you for sharing this heartfelt poem. Reply
5/7/2013 12:56:33 pm
5/7/2013 11:16:52 pm
This was beautifully written...I could picture each child in their own situation and my heart ached and it swelled with love for each one of them AND for the TEACHERS who love them through. Thank you Yvonne!
5/7/2013 11:19:28 pm
PROFOUND!!! What a deep read. I pray for the children of today cause I thought it was hard when I was coming up it is much more harder for them.Im so glad to read a piece from you what a pleasure Reply
5/8/2013 02:47:56 am
Thanks! I appreciate any time light is shed on the reality of teaching.
5/8/2013 04:10:51 am
Wonderful poem it is, thank you.
5/8/2013 09:05:32 am
My heart breaks for these babies...and all they have to deal with as they are shoved into an adult world too soon....thanks for sharing your heart with us!
5/8/2013 09:43:53 am
Moving, thanks for sharing the gentle reminders and making me yet again grateful for the life I have every day!
5/8/2013 12:58:19 pm
Great poem Reply
5/9/2013 01:54:33 am
Incredible! Raised so many memories and at the same time reminded me of what my Kaitlyn is experiencing as a freshman this year! Thanks!
5/9/2013 04:30:21 am
WOW! that was incredible. It tugged at so many different emotions. Thank you so much for sharing this!
5/9/2013 04:48:44 am
Wow! That was so intense. I related because I actually have student sin the alternative ed high school program in which I teach that experience some of those same situations you mentioned above..intense! Thank you
5/9/2013 01:43:51 pm
Yvonne, I'm so sorry that my appreciation for poetry hasn't been greater. This poem reached the depths of my heart. I saw your classroom through these words. I visited many daily lives that otherwise I would not have known...thank you. Beautiful.
5/10/2013 03:11:44 am
Being a child care provider and volunteer aid at a gifted school and reading this have me thinking about so much. Those children who may be hiding so much from people around them.
5/10/2013 12:26:20 pm
Awww.... so sad. Lump here. x0x
5/10/2013 11:40:18 pm
Such a great and powerful poem. This poem shows our situation in life. Thanks for sharing.
5/11/2013 12:02:27 am
Wow! This is powerful and very moving. Thanks for sharing with us.
5/11/2013 06:31:49 am
Very inspiring poem, Yvonne, thanks for sharing it!
5/12/2013 09:02:16 pm
Powerful poem...then I calculated how many years it has now been since HS...that scared me...lol
5/12/2013 10:39:04 pm
What a deep and moving piece! Thank you for sharing!
5/13/2013 01:10:07 am
I like the line that says "I want to cry for the class clown who starves at home while his mother gets her hair done" because it is true that the people who smile the most and always cracks jokes are the ones that have to struggle at home - the make the jokes to hide their pain. Reply
5/13/2013 07:06:14 pm
What an amazing tribute. Your words are still ringing in my ears. Awesome poem - truly!