Superwoman

Visit www.newpaige.wordpress.com for a post called Superman's Already Here, on the lies told in "Waiting for Superman," a so-called documentary about failing American schools that was actually funded in large part by the Gates Foundation and supports charter schools and the privatization of American public schools. American schools are not failing; they only look like they are when measured by standardized test scores that correlate to the economic status of student families. Then, schools are judged by their scores on basic skills as opposed to 21st Century Skills (data interpretation, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, adaptability, entrepreneurship, initiative, and more) and penalized if they don't "measure up." That gives federal and state governments the opportunity to cut funding for "under-performing" or "failing" schools when measured by inappropriate data -- as opposed to increasing graduation and college admission rates and falling dropout rates -- in order eventually to close them and hand students and tax dollars over to private education companies. These companies will pay teachers less, using the same tax formula, and thus make millions of dollars in profits on the backs of children, now being less well served. Some of that profit will go to campaigns for the very same far-right legislators who started the cycle. What happens when the bulk of public schools are privatized? What happens when teaching is de-professionalized? Teachers need supports and schools need proper funding. Without both, public schools will fail, and so will the municipalities in which they serve children. As go schools, so go the cities. In the end, all of us will suffer. Our democracy will be undermined. And the top 1% of earners will have won.

Unhappy Unhour

In those days
when the dark
came early and
the unfinished work
on the desk
was haunting
the corner pub
promised warmth
inside
and out
camaraderie
light banter
and a glow

Fire is comforting
but not
when it comes with a price
so profound
with a burning curiosity
what was said
what unsafe paths traveled

In those days
the morning light dimmed
an hour was a day too long
even in its wintry brevity

Waking to a day
in which happy means happy
an hour means an hour
is like singing
four-part harmony
in perfect tune


Copyright February 2011

Incandescence

She is brightness
like her sister and
her brother both
they are incandescent
but not like a bulb
no
like the heat
that infuses a summer day
like the embers
on the hearth
like intuition
like empathy
like a light touch
like a star
visible from any place
on the globe

Lisa E. Paige
Copyright 2010

Surrender

Salt water stings
our hot skin
as the bright
white light mellows
softening us until
we touch
unintended underwater
where silky seaweed
surprises us and
suggests we
surrender
to the forces of the moon

Copyright 2010

Badger

This is not a children's poem.

Sometimes we are
busy as a beaver
sneaky as a weasel
we have nine lives
like a cat
or deeply love
and depend on
our best friend
the dog.

Sometimes we have
a memory
like an elephant's
or we're shy
as a mouse
or roar
like a lion
when we should
bleat like a lamb.

This is not a children's poem.

Sometimes we're cougars
and our claws come out.

We so often follow
like sheep or
are pushed along
like cattle or
are more stubborn
than a mule or
act like an ass.

And that brings me
to the equine paradox:
there are more horses' asses in the world
than horses.

This is not a children's poem.

What of the badger?
The badger badgers.
And usually it works
at least for him.

More persuasive
than the snake
was Eve
or was Adam just
more easily turned?
Unlike women
(according to many men's analogies)
she didn't have to badger
or bitch.

This is not a children's poem.

Sometimes tautology
is the best we can do.
We are what we are
and it is what it is.
We're human so
we're simply not a butterfly
but don't we see that
we are as stunning and
have a butterfly's fragility
that steals the breath?
That we can --
if we wish to --
stop crawling and
(not without a chrysalis phase)
discover flight.

Believe me.
This is not a children's poem.
Children have not yet forgotten how to fly.

Copyright 2010

Coals

Dancing on coals
as red as frostbite
will ignite
the forgotten lessons
that formed
like ice particles
in our warm breath
that day
when we sang
by the church
joining hands
with the dark
and the empty
as we hungered
for comfort and heat
yet fumbling
with numb fingers
traded our
worn scarves
to strangers
for gratitude.

Copyright 2010

Piercings

I told her
it's trite to say
that her heart is pierced
even if it feels
as real as a paring knife
on a peach.

But when she lifted her shirt
immodestly
and eagerly said
it won't hurt -- do it quickly --
I'll just look away --
jewels fell like those
that had colored her fingertip
when she signed
a childish lasting pact
-- with a serious look --
then mingled her life with
that of her best friend.

It was through
in an instant
followed by
a captive ring
with a crimson droplet gem
a prism
reflecting the truth
of an eternal metaphor.

And she smiled with defiance.

Copyright 2010