Meenakshi Mohan |
Alana, reticent,
shy, and tense, was a black swan
among the white
children. Miss Young, a new teacher
with her
idealistic views: a black child is every child
thought she could
easily win Alana’s confidence.
Alana would not
speak or even look at her.
Was she being
“white” impeding their relationship?
Her multicultural
training took her only so far.
There was a whole
ocean to dive into to learn.
During lunchtime,
Johnny commented,
“Alana, you look
like chocolate pudding.”
Miss Young froze.
Johnny should not have made that comment.
But other children
did not seem to mind.
Alana was the baby
in the pretend play corner and blond Amy was the mother. Miss Young smiled.
During the Discussion, the topic was the meaning of everyone’s names. “Alana
means the most precious one,”
Miss Young
explained. A shy smile peeked through Alana’s dimpled cheeks.
Miss Young read The
Snowy Day. Peter, the Black child from the story,
became every
child’s hero. The class ended with giggles,
laughter, and lots
of chatting. Miss Young won a hug from Alana.
She smiled and
knew she could make the class work.
Notes:
The Snowy Day – Picture book by Ezra Jack Keats
(An
autobiographical book, White Teacher, by Vivian Gussin Paley, inspired this
poetry.)
A PEARL IN MOLLUSK
Shirley, with
misty eyes and a lump in her throat,
read a tear-soaked
note on a piece of crumpled paper:
“They all came,
tried to make me laugh, cry, and speak,
but left me with
echoes in the blank of my life. Then you came
with your wonders
and turned my tears into joy.”
Shirley read and
read until her own tears-soaked Shannon’s note.
All schools
rejected to take six-year-old Shannon as a student.
Her atrocious acts
of hurting others hindered her admission to a regular school.
She came to
Shirley’s severely retarded children’s class.
Shannon never
spoke, shed tears, or laughed,
but she continued
hurting other children, destroying property,
and not
participating in any activities – all had given up except Shirley.
Shannon, abandoned
by her teenage mother
and abused by her
alcoholic father, had no future.
Shirley fought to
reach out to bring the child back from her dark, tormented self.
She patiently
guided her. She detected the spark of genius in those wild eyes.
One day after
another horrifying act, Shannon asked,
“Are you going to
whip me?” Shirley replied calmly, “No, I never do that.”
Finally, the day
came -- Shannon broke down.
Shirley hugged
her, both their tears mingling and soaking their clothes.
Shirley kissed Shannon’s drenched note, “You were my pearl in mollusk.”
Note:
(One Child by
Torey L. Hayden inspired me to write this poem.)
Dr.
Meenakshi Mohan
is an editor, academic, art critic, children’s writer, painter, and poet. She
has taught at universities in Chicago, Boston, and Towson, Maryland. Her book
reviews, art critics, interviews, and poems regularly appear in different
journals and anthologies, in addition to several books by her. She has been
listed twice in the Who is Who Among American Teachers. She is solo exhibiting
her paintings in Potomac Library, Maryland. She is on the Editorial Team for
Inquiry in Education, a peer-reviewed journal published by National Louis
University, Chicago, Illinois. She is serving as an advisory editor for
Confluence, UK. She is a recipient of The Panorama International Literature
Festival Award, 2022, and the Setu Bilingual Journal Award for Excellence for
her Writings and Art, 2022. She has also been featured several times in the
local journals in the Maryland area. www.meenakshimohan.com
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