Poetry: The Teachers Who Teach Us

Whenever we return to my hometown of New Orleans, we inevitably drive all over to see friends, visit the French Quarter, see my older brother, and hit the local grocery store for food items you can only buy in the region. Just as inevitably and by necessity, we travel streets that pass right by my junior high and high schools. Those were the two places where my ideas and understanding of poetry were formed and took root.

Teachers can have an enormous impact, for good and for ill. It was my good fortune to have invariably good literature and English teachers, from eighth grade through high school graduation. Most of these teachers were of the same generation – they had all been teaching for 10 to 15 years, except for one whose tenure was approaching 40 years.

To continue reading, please see my post today at TweetSpeak Poetry.

Photograph: East Jefferson High School, Metairie, Louisiana.