MARCH 10, 1972
A Polemic:
To Katheryn Kearney, Student
Teacher
To accept, reject, and understand
the kaleidoscopic chances of right now and later on
Those are your, the student's,
needs to know and skills to have
Those are mine, the teacher's, tasks
To show greater choice than offered by the radar
of Bryant's Waterfowl.
You flatter to imply I write the script of youthful woes
Excepting other authors - family, friends, and foes.
I must by role approve and disapprove
Through what I've learned,
And red marks showing comma failures
Are like bad news that in older times
Displeased the Queen who whomped off heads
Of hapless dudes
Who had to tell it straight.
I, too, start with love, perhaps with too much care
For ties that bind, the common good,
our country, school, and state
Mindful that humans need to
(a) weave the 'jeans
(b) crack the gas
(c) grow the beans
That groups of people use,
And care too little for the lonely Adolescent anguish I've out-grown.
(ego eased, bruises healed, tears all dry)
Sensing Buddha's truth that all misery is ignorance.
If it is your "thing" to search eternity
Amen! Shalom! Banzai! Chio!
Please write and let me know When you find out what all that means.
In many ways I've yet to grow.
P.S. When I'm no longer any use to you and am very, very, old,
Will the love you offer now wither and turn cold?