#1582 rant

we don't need one more policy policing and polluting our little souls
we don't need to fill this rectangle building with regulations and rules
we need to fill it with love and kindness
with humanity and connection
with friendships and smiling memories
everything we need to make the world a better place can be learned at recess
I love technology and the miracles it can help us achieve
but miracles require hard work
perspiration and late nights
and great seating plans
so don't get me wrong when I say we need less screen time
and that we should be screening our time for that which is important
I love facebook
but not when it replaces books and faces
for the only difference between a future leader and a future dealer
is someone taking the time to make sure the details are taken care of
and the little things are in the right places
c'mon with me people what is a revolution but a circle
so let's take this rectangle full of rectangles
round out the corners and make the rectangle a round circle
a circle of in which learning the right things trumps learning the things right
a place where everyday without a test is a test in how we're doing
we're all in this together
these ain't my children or your children or their children
no, even if you're the end of your bloodline these are our offspring
so let's spring them off into the future
with scraped knees under many, many kisses

some day we will need to turn in our keys to this great globe
and the boss at the time will hand them on to today's children and tomorrow's men and women
so together let's make sure they're ready to outdue their predecessors

#1581 stay out of injustice

commit in justice
do not commit injustice
be kind to all kinds
commit in justice
leave injustice to others

#1580 42K

she is to late to break the ribbon
too late even to hear the crowd's applause
there is no one
almost no one, just her
mangled toenails and bloody nipples
she put one foot in front of the other
and now she is here
her feet forget how to stop running and she almost falls down after the finish line
there is nothing to do now but walk home
a new person
for people are their own limits
and she just grew new ones

#1579 for whom the bell does not

there are crosses outside of the fence
excluded even in death
for failing to fit our boxes
and it happens today
in different ways
falling out of our grad lists
for failing to follow our bells

#1578 desks and daydreams

somewhere, in a town that still has the same name, but has changed itself almost beyond recognition
is a large building, an elementary school, that has been knocked down long enough that trees grow there
and in that building that once was is a classroom that saw many students, especially eight-year olds
and in that classroom is a wooden desk that lets you smell its varathane, let's you see its scratches and nicks
and in that desk is a boy who daydreams about what he would say to the world if they would only listen
a message about kindness and hugs and mosquitos
he dreams about the grade 5 boys down the hall, noticing him, letting him join their schoolyard soccer
he dreams about staying in this place where everyone leaves this town as soon as they leave a stage in a funny hat, making the town a place where people come, not leave
he does well on his Friday spelling tests
okay on his math sheets
he loves recess
he doesn't have any close friends, or any distant enemies
he likes the monkey bars and the erect half-buried tires
he likes arriving in the morning, and leaving as the long hand leaves the 3
he doesn't like the hallway crowds, or the occasional boys fighting
he doesn't like when the teacher gets mad at anyone
he likes standing at the teacher's desk
the way four years ago he liked seeing the top of his parents' fridge

#1577 best selling book

I was reading your readings
and they left their Mark on me
but I choose to write my own gospel

I bought your bible
but I didn't but the bull
I'm writng my own gospel

I was no closer to god than the man who carries the quran
or the woman who gets the gita
so I'm writing my own gospel

I'm scrapping your scripture
singing some psalms of my own
writing my own gospel

after reading your readings
I want to leave my own mark
godspeed
I'm writing my own gospel

#1576 first

find your divinity
prove your providence
make your miracle
move your mountain

but first,
get out of bed

#1575 field of vision

my perspective in life
is like my windshield in the car
I have stopped seeing both
I take both for granted
yet they are how I see the world while living, while driving
I don't see the bug stains, the webbed cracks
perhaps I need to leave it at the shop for the weekend
perhaps it's time for a replacement

#1574 a toast

may you bite off more than you can swallow
may you have your heart broken
may you face challenges
may you skin your knees
may you fail
may you fall

may you learn to ask for help
may you put it back together
may you overcome them
may you heal
may you learn
may you rise

#1573 early high school

a girlfriend would fix everything
someone to hang out with
things to do
i'd be cool
no one would bug me
wouldn't need to be the hottest girl in school
just a good girlfriend
that would fix everything

#1572 orange octopuses and purple porpoises

my bathtub has more colour
since he entered my life
bright blues and reds and greens and more

my life has more colour
since he entered my bathtub
bright hues and shades and tones and more

#1571 why my tongue bleeds

i am bursting with advice that i cannot give
or if i do, it will not be heard
from, don't let little things get to you
to, use half a potato to remove a broken bulb
but the more i say, the less is heard

#1570 bad ass

in the quiet of -20C winter, I run
my sneakers and their spikes yell, SQUEAK
the snow steals the sound
refusing to give it back
echo is a foreign word
the snow makes the sky bluer than summer ever can

#1569 a bad day

breathing's not making it past the back of my throat
heart beating faster than it should
muscles tight
negative glasses on

#1568

dear santa

i hope you and the elves had a good year in the north pole this year i want to be a better person i want to be kind and motivated i want to spend the next 365 days the best ways possible i want to spend time with the people i love the most i want to let go of old gripes i want to meet new people i want
thank you santa

love,
me

ps also, can i have Lego Minecraft?

#1567 field of vision

started as a dot, caused by a pebble
a pebble
i ignored it
easy enough, out of my field of vision
but now repair is not an option
resign myself or replace it