The air is brilliant today
French grammar infringes
upon the conscious minds
taxing brains in translation
The French teacher is on board
a Canada-bound plane
and has escaped into the vibrant blue skies
away from these sportive sophomores
Outside, you could lasso
a hot air balloon and
drift off to Mars
say, “Salut” to aliens
Tell me, I say….
These kids are like buoys
that have bounced up
from around the neighborhood
trapped 7.5 hours
in a stoic, old school
where eras overlap
and the edges of time collapse
the 80s over the 50s
2017 peaking through a page of the ages
leaving little time tracks
creeping through cracks
that trace along white walls
as if simultaneously mapping
their history, their destiny
“Quoi?”
They give me their
fed up worksheet stare
the far back row
has drifted into non-French dreams…
other heads are bent
furtively sliding phones under paper
I-phone essays
I catch their “eye drift watch”
smirk, giggle, head tossing
We are old school here
before infrastructure mattered
this red brick building
now an old, elegant lady
who has flirtatiously batted her eyes
at students since 1910
In the sky, the French teacher
breathes deeply, sips his latte
rises up further into the clouds
joie de vivre
Here we are underneath and
engulfed also, by this perfect sky
the third-period bell chimes
the hostages waft up from their seats
as if freed from the Bastille
then skirt into the vast hallways of history
and leave me grappling with Voltaire
I was just talking to my daughter about when I took French in elementary school. Very timely.
French is a lovely language.
Ha, they’ll regret not embracing their French lessons someday, but something tells me they’ll remember their perceptive professeur. Your poem made me smile. Happy and safe travels to you!
Thank you so much, Elisa. Yes, I think they may regret it. Having mastery of a 2nd language is so important and cool too 😀
I never took French in school. I learned Italian instead……..
My second language is Spanish. Those romance languages 😀
Aren’t they wonderful. English is so prosaic beside the cadence and rhythm, not to mention the whole cultural deal!
They are wonderful. I have always been fascinated with them. I wish I could speak some of the other two…oh well, maybe someday 😀
I´m learning French for two years now… and no end in sight! It´s quite difficult but I won´t give up! It sounds much too nice 😉
Love the last lines where you compare them to hostages freed from the Bastille! I kind of felt like that after every lesson 😉
Thank you, Sarah. I agree, French is such a beautiful language! My 2nd language is Spanish, I drift in and out of fluency since it has been many years since I finished it as a minor in college. I get practice when I teach the bilingual children. Don’t give up on French for sure! 😀
Spanish is wonderful too! I´ve learned it about ten years ago at uni but need to constantly practice it otherwise it´s all gone 😉 The funny thing is, when I´m talking with Spanish people they assume I´m French and vice versa! 😉 Really need to learn how to handle these accents 😀
It´s great that you get your practice from the bilingual kids at school and thus keep your Spanish fluent! 🙂
Oh yes, those accents are tricky! 😀
Really quite superb, LT 🙂 Your Bastille brilliance made me wonder where the Guilotine might feature and then there, in the last line. Voltaire reminded me of Volpone (a play by…Jonson I think) where I regularly lost my head in the bottom of waste paper baskets looking for draft essays… 🙂
My Bastille brilliance, he he :-D. I’m such a France fan, I’ve had the good fortune to visit before. I think I’ve also looked in the bottom of waste baskets for drafts also :-D. Thank you, Phil!
Marvelous, LT! I read it twice. You get an A +!
Thank you, Jo! You have the background to understand substitute teachers for sure 😀
Can you teach me, French Miss, sil vous plait? 😉 Lovely poem.
Thank you, Iris! Have you been a substitute teacher before? 😀
A pleasure, Lana. No, l’ve not been one, Miss! Bonne Journee… ☉ 😃
That’s my profession, a fill-in teacher…it is quite the adventure, ha ha 😀
Ah…enjoy the adventure with your students… have fun!! 😃
I love the timeless aura this paints, Lana. So evocative of school days and reciting our conjugations, dreaming of the weekend, heat and dust motes swirling around the old windows. The romanticism of the French language. Wonderful poem <3
Thank you so much, Diana. School days are precious, these kids will learn that. I hope you also had a wonderful weekend.
Ah, this takes me back to language class in school. Great job, Lana!
Thank you, Debbie. I hope you have a lovely week 😀
Wonderful poem Lana. I have to wonder if the languages taught these days are imperative as they were when I was in school. I took French all the way through high school and it has come in handy many times in my travels. I can no longer speak it fluent but I can understand. 🙂
I think they are, but it might be harder to persuade students. I know that Spanish really comes in handy for those living in many states. I’m glad you took French, it’s such a beautiful language!
Thanks Lana. French was mandatory in junior high school but I loved it and continued through. I think Spanish in the US is as important as French in Canada. 🙂
This is wonderful, Lana. As I enjoyed languages that sense of ennui didn’t overwhelm me in class…now physics was another matter! Lovely writing with some precious phrases that just tickle one’s senses. Just love it!
Thanks Annika. The kids told me that the French teacher just takes off, and I like that idea. I like the idea of an eccentric, creative teacher who randomly escspes, although in real life, it may certainly not be the case 😀