Friday, August 19, 2011

Poetry Friday: Did I Miss Anything?

Don't you love it when students come late to school, or miss a class, and then ask you, "Did I miss anything?" How often I have been tempted to answer sarcastically. But this poem does a much better job than anything I could come up with.


Did I Miss Anything?
Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 per cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per cent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring this good news to all people
on earth

Here's the rest. (It gets even better.)

And here is today's Poetry Friday roundup.

10 comments:

Janet said...

Oh my. This is absolute perfection!

Tabatha said...

I've always loved that poem! Such a great one for teachers.

GatheringBooks said...

Oh wow. I love Poetry Friday this week - so many poems I can share with my teachers! =)

Robyn Hood Black said...

Oh, I have folks to share this with, too! Thank you for posting.

Aunt Pat said...

I've emailed a link to this to all our faculty. One has already replied "Great!" :-)

Doraine said...

I laughed out loud at the last stanza you posted. This is classic.

Matsu said...

Thanks for sharing this poem. I had not read it before. Tonight, I'm getting together with some good friends and I am anxious to read it to them as I know they will enjoy it as much as I do.

Thank you for all of your Friday poetry posts. They are always very interesting.

Sarah SSM said...

LOVE THIS! I used to teach high school, and I'm so sorry I didn't have it. It would have been good to tease the girls with. I'm going to post it on my sister's Facebook page, as she is now a teacher herself.

Sarah SSM said...

Stay safe in the tropical storm headed your way... Prayers coming, of course.

Ruth said...

Thanks, Sarah. I'm just about to post about it.