“I have heard you’re a poet” the young teacher said,
“I assume in the post modern style,
I’m no expert myself, “ (I’d a feeling of dread)
“But I pen a line once in a while.”
“No I don’t like post modern, I write formal verse”
I replied, as the lines creased her brow,
And she said in a tone somewhat acid and terse:
“Oh I see, well we don’t teach that now,
For at college they taught us to embrace the new,
To discard the old fashioned ideas.
Modern fashion I follow, so formal eschew,
I was taught by the wisest of seers.
There’s no need in a poem of meter or rhyme,
And I think there is nothing that’s worse.
I admit though, it’s true, I don’t have much free time,
I don’t write much, and seldom read verse.”
And I asked: “And your favourites then, who would they be?”
But I knew when I asked what she’d say:
“Well I can’t think right now, there are many you see,
I’ll get back to you, another day.
But I must be away, for I’ve children to teach,
I’ve a whole class of students to guide.
If our brave new ideas are to extend their reach
We must keep budding poets onside”.
dnobrienpoetry 
Post modern? What’s that – is it modern or ancient…oh, I see, it is even newer than modern…like the future? How pompous, I say but it will not be the first time we’ve heard of crystal gazers and snake eaters 🙂
Yeah, I wrote this after actually having pretty much this conversation with a young female teacher. I don’t have a problem with all sorts of poetry even though I only write formalist poetry, but I thought her view was very narrow and that “budding poets” in her charge may be missing out on the big picture. This is about “the English teacher” by the way not “all English teachers”.
Good one. It is pomposity and arrogance that feeds the post modern style. Yet what poems are remembered and memorized? It’s those with rhyme and meter.
Maybe it’s an insecurity thing – they feel threatened perhaps?
“The English Teacher”: six perfect 4-line stanzas in alternating rhyme & rhythm (tetrameter/trimeter, respectively). This is poetry the way I learned it, word music…
Thank you Lindy Lee – always appreciate your comments.
Yeah, it’s a good thing you made that disclaimer in the earlier comment — about this not being about ALL English teachers!!! Actually, as soon as I saw this come up in my e-mail, I wanted to get right over here. But extra hours at work and my dad being in the hospital just pushed everything else to the back of the line. So I’m just now getting to it. It’s SO GOOD, Dennis. And deals with an attitude that keeps rearing its ugly head. They were talking about “post-modern” close to 40 years ago, when I was studying to become an English teacher, and they are still talking about it now. We have lived through what was supposed to be “post-modern” then, and it’s kind of scary to think what they might mean by it now.
By the way, I have been experimenting with a new site on the “Blogger” hosting site. I like to post my articles and poems in a larger than average font, for easier reading, and I have been having a lot of trouble getting things to work correctly here. Evidently, according to WP, my only recourse, if I want larger font, is to become comfortable with HTML code and use it. I think not!!! Anyway, I heard that “Blogger” offers a lot more control of font, as well as a couple other things, so I’m experimenting. I decided a poetry blog would provide the best experiment, because most of these blogging sites require extra work to get the poetry to go up properly. I have found Blogger very, very easy by comparison. I’m including the link to the new site here — just in case you want to see how it compares in looks, etc. I have only 3 or 4 poems up so far, but they have gone up in nice large font with much less trouble than they did on WP.
http://pickapeckofpoems.blogspot.com/
Have a happy day,
Your Favorite English Teacher
Yes I was thinking of you when I wrote it but there are all sorts of English teachers aren’t there? 🙂
I had a look at your “blogger” blog and it looks good, I see what you mean about the font. I actually have one there as well with just a couple of poems on it – I must put some work into it.
Oh, that’s good to know. Is the name similar? I’ll look for you on there. I’ve been wondering about a good way to try to connect with other bloggers on that site. That’s one thing that I think WP evidently has an advantage on — getting the bloggers connected.
Hey, Dennis, I’ve looked and looked, trying to find you on “Blogger.” Haven’t found you yet, but I looked up a list of Australian poets, and boy, there have been a BUNCH! Let me know what the name of your blog is, and I’ll visit.
Hi Sandra, it’s
http://dnobrienpoetry.blogspot.com.au/
but I’ve just put a couple of poems there to get it off the ground so nothing to see yet.
Will get some more on there as time goes by.
I agree with Lindy Lee – “word music”. I love the meter – and the satire!
Glad you liked it Betty.