#235ForLife

This was my final OP for the 2015-2016 school year. Maybe because I have been thinking about how I can do more with poetry next year, it came out more poemy than usual.

#235ForLife
The end of years is always hard for me
And joyful.
Hard because endings are not my thing
And because we are approaching
Inevitably
The end of this joyfully intoxicating congregation
The spirit of exploration
Swashed around in inspiration
Taken in and down with honey and august.


We landed here together 350 days ago
or so,
nervous, or excited (depending on the lighting)
with a whole lot of time and a realm of possibility
laid out ahead of us.
Now, all but behind us,
An inhale, and an exhale,
and it’s time to move ahead again.
Because though we worked a lot,
there is always more to know.
Always more to figure out.
Always more to sketch into to the drawing of our lives.
And in a time when it seems like there is so much
So much
that doesn’t make sense,  
when our screens scream hate and vitriol,
when discord seems the soundtrack of the times,
when teaching people how to guard against victimization
takes precedence over crafting the compassion
and empathy that cultivate kindness,
When courses are charted by fear,
in here,
we inhale and exhale,
and we love.
In a course named for a test
We are tested
Can we be AP
And still be we?
Do our voices matter or is it
Just matters of rhetoric?
Building blocks of language
Mapping trails where there was nothing
Seeing what you are capable of becoming
I have watched you read the world
And write your way into conversation with it
So it can never shut you down
Leave you out
Make you feel unworthy
Unlovable
Invisible
Never.
You are none of that.
And you are everything.
I see you
Transgress, transcend, transform expectations
Shaping bountiful realities
And  Becoming.
Inhale. And Exhale.
I am not a counter of days.
About anything really,
but definitely not school.
Definitely not in the “7 more Mondays” kind of way.
But I am always acutely and urgently aware
that we are running out of days.
So I inhale. And exhale.
Grateful for the inspiration
That has flowed within these walls
Synergy reverberating
In a sort of harmonic resonance.
That leaves a permanent echo
So a trace of you remains.
In here,
Always.
235ers, Like plants
breathe in energy and breathe out genius
And we carry our own light
For photosynthesis.


I am not a counter of days
But the fullness of our time has come
And I am grateful in uncounted ways
For all the things that you have done
That filled this room with family.


When a place can hold your tears as often as
your Laughter
And has room to let you face your fears,
and after
still feel safe, though challenged
Where you can choose to love -
To live in love -
With courage
And joy
Inhale. Exhale.
You have helped to build a home.
And home is always here.

Always.

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