Learning in the First Grade
“The cup is red. The drop of rain
is blue. The clam is brown.”
So said the sheet of exercises–
purple mimeos, still heady
from the fluid in the rolling
silver drum. But the cup was
not red. It was white,
or had no color of its own.
Oh, but my mind was finical.
It put the teacher perpetually
in the wrong. Called on, however,
I said aloud: “The cup is red.”
“But it’s not,” I thought,
like Galileo Galilei
muttering under his beard….
-Jane Kenyon
I'm really enjoying the poetry you have been sharing. You are pairing each one so nicely with appropriate photos. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI like the poem also. The insights and thoughts of first graders and kindergartners often show ways that the adults view of the world and responses have been learned and do not always match to the immediate situation.
ReplyDeleteI am always pleasantly surprised when I find a poem that I haven't read before that really hits home with me. This was one of those poems.
ReplyDelete