ChendaWrites: Teacher Man

Teacher Man

We wake up

to walk

In the light

of the early

morning

You look like

half mirage 

and half real

Half ghost and half

ghostly incantation

I think

sometimes

maybe

I made you up

In this dream where

everything you want

is everything you need

is everything

So, I look at you 

half disbelieving

and half believing

in little else

Pausing…

In the sigh 

of the earth

Waiting…

For you to say

something

And, it makes me

laugh, and

you ask me:

Why?

And, I laugh again

so hard and so loud

that, it catches the both 

of us off guard

And, you think

maybe, it’s the joke?

(which it is)

But, it’s also 

the life, the you 

and I, the laughing

to be laughing

When, you

can’t do 

anything else

When, it feels

this good, to be

this happy

And, I can’t help it

I can’t help thinking

what a man you are

Standing there

mud flecked

on your shoes

cranberry muffin 

in your beard

Your eyes

brimming with fire

lamenting

your students

You are a man

who teaches, which

is to say, you are 

a man who is a man

And, I wonder

all the time

about what you

will teach me?

And, I wonder

about what 

you will teach me

in the future?

Tomorrow?

Today?

Everyday?

And, the day

after that?

© 2010-2025 Chenda Duong

Note: Randy and I met in Austin in December 2010 and married outside Zion National Park in July 2013.

We have three wildly beautiful and autonomous children together.

Life is crazy and wonderful that way!