What Learning Leaves: New Edition
By Taylor Mali
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About this ebook
Taylor Mali
TAYLOR MALI is a spoken word poet, teacher advocate, and game designer from New York City. Mali is a four-time National Poetry Slam champion and one of the original poets to appear on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. The author of five collections of poetry and a book of essays on teaching, he is also the inventor of Metaphor Dice, a game that helps writers think more figuratively. He lives in Brooklyn where he is the founding curator of the Page Meets Stage reading series at the Bowery Poetry Club.
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10 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you have not read anything by Taylor Mali or even heard of Taylor Mali, then you need to read this book right away! Thsi man is a genius when it comes to spoken word and if you ever get the chance to hear him live, do it! He used to be a teacher and a majority of his poems reflect his experience with children or as an educator. This is why I can relate so well to his poems. He also has a way of writing that hits you so clearly and moves you in a way that is inspiring. He is such an amazing writer!
Book preview
What Learning Leaves - Taylor Mali
What Learning Leaves
a collection of poetry
by Taylor Mali
Write Bloody Publishing
America’s Independent Press
Austin, TX
writebloody.com
Copyright © Taylor Mali 2013
No part of this book may be used or performed without written consent from the author, if living, except for critical articles or reviews.
Mali, Taylor.
2nd edition
Originally published by Hanover Press, 2002
ISBN: 978-1938912-27-6
Interior Layout by Lea C. Deschenes
Cover Designed by Bill Jonas
Proofread by Melinda Aguilar
Edited by Derrick Brown
Originally edited by David Martin
Type set in Bergamo from www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com
Printed in Tennessee, USA
Write Bloody Publishing
Austin, TX
Support Independent Presses
writebloody.com
To contact the author, send an email to writebloody@gmail.com
MADE IN THE USA
for Rebecca Ruth Tauber Mali
1964 – 2004
What Learning Leaves
Next stop
That’s me at the front of the subway train
with my face pressed up against the glass,
watching as every oncoming red light
goes green then slides on past.
My hands are cupped round my eyes,
and my back is to the rest of the car.
If I block out the light from where I am
standing, I can see just as far
as the bends in tracks will allow me.
Silent whistle or unlit beacon:
here I am at the front of the train,
staring forward as if I were seeking
the color and texture of darkness,
or how a broken heart becomes whole,
the here and now of the future,
the exact size and shape of the soul.
There are others who do as I do:
who stand here and strain to see.
Granted, they’re usually 10 years old,
but that doesn’t bother me
because I have my back to the subway car
and my face pressed up to the glass.
And every red light will eventually change
to green, then slide on past.
Three-hole punches
First day of school
This is it, the most important moment,
the original transgression.
If this were writing, this would be the opening line
(except you’d be able to go back
and change it if you didn’t get it right).
If this were love at first sight,
this would be the moment you bumped into each other,
the night you began your mutual confessions.
It’s time to recalibrate and revise
the rambling digression of summer eyes
and focus on a more decorous expression—
say, the red and yellow leaves of trees
that have scattered themselves all over the lawn
with abandonment and indiscretion.
With abandonment and indiscretion
be like early autumn air and freshen.
Because school is now in session,
and you know the old expression,
you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
What learning leaves
My children have all gone home,
leaving me with nothing to do
but grade, plan, record, worry,
and call their parents.
Jenny’s mother ends the conversation by telling me
that I seem like the only teacher who understands
that learning is fun,
that it should leave you feeling refreshed.
I look around my room and think,
in the parlance of the sixth grade, Na-ah!
Learning is tiring, frustrating, often boring,
and as for feeling refreshed, their blood sugar levels
are so low by three o’clock that the only thing
my students have the energy to do
is beat each other up and scream.
Refreshed is not on the list of what learning leaves.
What is