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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ENGLISH TEACHER, by JOYCE FLANAGAN SOMERSET
First Line: Now we will conjugate the verb 'to go','
Last Line: Would tear a wound apart like keen-edged swords?
Subject(s): Teaching & Teachers
First Line: Now we will conjugate the verb 'to go','
Last Line: Would tear a wound apart like keen-edged swords?
Subject(s): Teaching & Teachers
"Now we will conjugate the verb 'to go',". . .
His faded eyes grew lambent with a look
Of seeing distances; an eager glow
Lighted the narrow face above the book.
To go down endless roads! To feel the swell
Of waves beneath a ship! To lean his weight
Against strange winds! Like wine, an ancient spell,
Cast by some gypsy, stirred his blood too late.
"You go, they go" . . . but never he might find
The untried paths. Each day rebellious feet
Must lead him always to these desks, aligned
In anchored rows by a familiar street.
How could these children know that two small words
Would tear a wound apart like keen-edged swords?
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THE CORRESPONDENCE-SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR SAYS GOODBYE TO HIS POETRY STUDENTS by GALWAY KINNELL
GRATITUDE TO OLD TEACHERS by ROBERT BLY
TWO RAMAGES FOR OLD MASTERS by ROBERT BLY
OEDIPUS TYRANNUS by JOHN CIARDI
ON FLUNKING A NICE BOY OUT OF SCHOOL by JOHN CIARDI
HER MONOLOGUE OF DARK CREPE WITH EDGES OF LIGHT by NORMAN DUBIE
OF POLITICS, & ART by NORMAN DUBIE
CIRCUMSTANCE by JOYCE FLANAGAN SOMERSET