Still thinking about my first school...

My last blog was about my first grade teacher. While I was on vacation in Oregon I read a wonderful little piece in the Eugene, Oregon paper. The writer, Ted Kooser was U.S. poet laureate from 2004-2006. He quoted a poem by Ron Koertge of California. The words, I hope will stir the kind of memories in you that the poem did in me.

First Grade

“Until then, every forest
had wolves in it, we
thought
it would be fun to wear
snowshoes
all the time, and we could
talk to water.

So why is this woman with
The gray
breath calling out names
and pointing
to the little desks we will
occupy
for the rest of our lives?”