Are You Sleeping?
Maureen Ingram
Bug-eyed, wide-awake, 3:46 a.m.
I am thinking through our words
Again, and again, and again.
Why do I care so much?
Why do I wrestle like this?
Why do I feel so frustrated?
Why does it matter so much?
Why does it wake me up?
Bug-eyed, wide-awake, 3:46 a.m.
I am thinking through our words
Again, and again, and again.
If a child isn’t learning,
don’t we have to change
the way we look at it
the way we work at it
the way we are set up for it?
Bug-eyed, wide-awake, 3:46 a.m.
I am thinking through our words
Again, and again, and again.
We make plans.
We set goals.
We call meetings.
We offer prescribed supports.
We meet the letter of the law.
Bug-eyed, wide-awake, 3:46 a.m.
I am thinking through our words
Again, and again, and again.
We want the system to work,
the child to fit within,
rather than
bending,
turning,
stretching
to meet the child.
Bug-eyed, wide-awake, 3:46 a.m.
I am thinking through our words
Again, and again, and again.
I’m not sleeping.
Are you sleeping?