This is a poem I wrote for a retiring teacher of Special Needs students at the school in which I work. As you might imagine, there is never a dull moment, and I have tried to capture some of her more light-hearted moments in this tribute. (The last line, of course, isn't true!)
She’s been a stalwart teacher for these many, MANY years,
assisting kids with special needs to conquer abstract fears.
She smoothed out rough behaviours, she taught them social skills;
she wiped their runny noses and she cleaned up frequent spills.
Our Pat can be quite perfect; our Pat can be so nice.
You wouldn’t know to look at her that Pat could have a vice…
But Pat can be quite wicked: a prankster through and through ~
like the day she saw a colleague in a supermarket queue.
She whispered to the till-girl (and here, our Patsy gloats)
that her unsuspecting victim dealt in counterfeited notes!
And once while on excursion in the city centre’s noise,
they bumped into the mother of one of her senior boys.
The mum looked for her dear one, who was nowhere to be seen
and a fib tripped off that velvet tongue as though it were routine:
“He wasn’t feeling very well ~ we left him back at school,”
implying that to bring him would have been immensely cruel.
The mum went off, quite happy, not knowing what a stew
our Pat and all her staff were in ~ they’d left him on the loo!
Then there was the Smurf fan who felt himself enticed
by a pinball gaming parlour, and pulled off quite a heist…
With his Smurf doll in his pocket, he strolled into a bank
and wanting to draw money out, he tried to be quite frank:
“I want to have some money”, was what this lad did blurt,
but the teller’s eyes were focused on the bulge beneath his shirt.
It could have been a weapon! A knife or something worse!
Thus, quietly, without a peep, she gave him quite a purse!
A trip to see the seaside might have been the final straw
when a student calmly walked into the long arm of the law.
They brought him in their squad car which the student thought was swell,
but the driver’s face had turned quite green by the overpowering smell…
The lad had done a ‘woopsie’ in the excitement of the day,
and the hapless cop who’d picked him up had suffered all the way.
And speaking of a ‘woopsie’, our Pat has had some shocks,
like the time a boy had come to class with something in his locks…
It might have been a helmet with its perfect, moulded shape,
but the stench that wafted past her nose made Patsy really gape:
The boy had been ‘creative’ with that warm and steamy fare,
and thought how it would look if rubbed into his hair.
So cheers to you, dear Patsy… we’ll miss you quite a bit,
and hope one day to see you if your white-coat shrink sees fit!
A contest entry
- Jeff's first year by cricketjeff.
4620 points, ended October 5, 2008, 64 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 18 of 18
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I think it's nice... Nice subject... Good amount of emotion... There was a nice set of rhythm; however, in a few lines you broke it up by combine two thought onto ones line...
You develop a nice rhythm in reading then you come to those slightly awkward lines and it throws the flow off... A few lines like the ones below are good examples... Although I don't really know how you could rewrite them to fit without changing the meaning...
"She smoothed out rough behaviours, she taught them social skills;"
and
"It could have been a weapon! A knife or something worse!"
Other than that minor detail the poem is very well written...
SIDE NOTE: In line 4 behaviors is spelled wrong...
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This is very sweet, and definately deserved it's win (though I think it deserved gold). Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful, heart-wrenching piece.
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Wow, for once I am quite shocked to see something good in the featured section. Keep up the writing with the amusing flair.
Keep penning.
Pick up the pen, and never put it down.
P♠t
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this was very enjoyable..i realy loved this. it is realy cool to have a friend that can inspire such a sweet poem...^_^..patsy sounds like a realy awsome person!!!
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Great write! I loved it. I liked your rhym scheme. It is a very nice dedication to that special teacher. It was funny too with the whole prankster part of it
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Keep writing.
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That was really funny! I like your rhyming a lot, and it seems like you've got quite an entertaining place over there. What a sweet goodbye poem
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Beautifully penned as always. You could easily write a book about that school and its characters - young and old
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oo. beautiful and uplifting poem. its always sad to sad goodbye to someone. im facing that soon
and i dont want to let go. but this poem really is helpful and really lovely to read.
thanks
x
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its great poem that i ever read
It great poem.. -
its great poem that i ever readed
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Very Entertaining
I enjoyed the whole prankster part of this story, and can understand some of the dilemmas incountered by the staff of this school, seeing as my mom works at a school for autistic children. My only suggestion would be to perhaps flow some of your ideas better by keeping them in the same stanzas, but overall, nice work! -
Kudos.
Very entertaining, very fun to read. Nice write for that special teacher.
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I love how you rhymed and it just was a lovely poem. It was humorous, and it seemed like there were a lot of good times involved! Makes me really wonder what this person was like, and if it'd be fun to meet them in real life. This is a show of great talent, and I love how the last line sort of ties it all together humorously. This made me smile, and I'm probably going to remember it a few times throughout the day. You must have been great friends. Marvelous work!
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what a classic
so so funny and so well put together
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I can see why you won silver.This is truely funny.Loved the lighthearedness.Don't see that here as uch as I'd like to sometimes one just needs to sit back and laugh.Thanks for sharing this with us!
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Fan-bloody-tastic!!!
The rhyme and the meter are lovely but the story is WELL!!!
The bees knees, the cats pyjamas, the dogs doodahs and anything else you can think of
Great entry!
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this is very nice and long for sure but i was right there from start to finish because it was so great....good luck on your contest..
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This is touching and hilarious at the same time. Nice tribute to a special person who has obviously given a tremendous amount to those kids, and also an absolute riot, done with great rhythm and rhyming. Best of luck in the contest with this piece.
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