a special person

It takes a special person to stay with it

Actively organizing doing whatever it takes 

Always answering the call to mobilize 

Engaged all life long in the struggle for liberation 

The passion of youth sustained over the decades 

Grown in wisdom gained through experience 

Now you mentor new faces coming to the party 

Infusing them with your revolutionary optimism 

Politics is a personal experience for you

Moved to demonstrate for Palestinian rights

Outspoken in solidarity with all oppressed people 

Living in the midst of LGBTQ pride celebration 

A class consciousness awareness of the world 

Understanding racism sexism and homophobia 

Combining acute analysis with angry condemnation 

These qualities make you a steadfast comrade 

After all you have done for so many years 

You deserve to give yourself credit for being true

So accept these words of praise into your inner self

Knowing you are a really good person 

Largo Nature Preserve March 2, 2021

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the possible you

She who can bake sweet creations from scratch 

Who can inscribe beautiful free form fonts for fun

Whose spirit soars when hiking in nature 

There is a person happy within herself

She who contributes generously to help others 

Who volunteers to maintain a woodland trail 

Who shows kind consideration and empathy 

There is a person giving of herself 

Everyone has their circumstances to contend with 

The challenges faced growing up and as an adult 

Navigating family school work and relationships 

Influencing and informing the choices we make 

You have the insight to determine your own way

The skills to be successful in so many venues

The experience of being an effective teacher 

That will make you better at whatever you do 

Not everything works out as we hoped

When everything contains its opposite 

But the whole world is out there ready for you 

To explore and become the possible you 

teacher recognition

Take a difficult job and make it much harder 

That's what elementary teaching in the pandemic does

To break down even the most dedicated teachers 

Impossibly tasked with protecting everyone around them 

The reality always there before becomes intolerable 

The administration not really supportive of the teachers 

The parents on the whole not much concerned for the staff 

The union leadership usually ineffective and collaborating 

And yet the best do as always the best that they can

Modeling good behavior for their students and each other 

Teaching right from wrong and encouraging fair play 

Along with the essential academic skills and information 

There are classrooms that are truly an inspiration 

Calling attention to slavery and its aftermath today 

Presenting the indigenous history and viewpoint

Explaining the science of what is causing climate change 

Anyone who has put themselves out there teaching this

Contending with reactionary parents and curriculum demands 

And all the pressures to be silent and go along

May hold their head up high proud of what they have done