Teachers Be Rhymin’

 

In March, the PVS English Department brought LA poet Cecilia Woloch to campus for a Saturday-long Poetry Workshop for teachers and community poets. Cecilia Woloch is an award-winning poet and celebrated teacher who conducts workshops for writers across the United States and around the world–Paris, Istanbul, Poland, etc. She has served on the faculties of a number of graduate and undergraduate creative-writing programs, including nearby Idyllwild Arts and her most recent tenure as Associate Professor at USC.

Teachers from Palm Valley’s lower, middle, and upper school, teachers from Xavier, community poets from throughout the valley followed Cecilia’s lead, generating several poems. One prompt asked workshop participants to draw randomly from a list of given words. Ms. McKee, PVS Calculus teacher and noted bookworm, drew the following words: “discourse,” “hillbilly,” “goosebumps,” and “peanut butter.” What resulted is the delightful poem below. Imagine yourself in Calculus class, staring at the board . . . .

 

As I write my frenzied equations on the blackboard,
I try to keep up a discourse with my students.
I affect a hillbilly accent to make them laugh.
“See how this here slope field splits like a wishbone?
Don’t y’all just get goosebumps?”
Feigning the utmost sobriety, I inform them
That we have just calculated the calories of
A cubic light year of peanut butter.

–Ms. Emily McKee