Why I'm a Teacher

because today at the bottom of a letter
Jazzey wrote
PS xoxoxo

because Lawanda needed help
in the bathroom
when, for the first time
she got her
period

because at the end of the day
my worldly wise class
had questions,

if you wear a tampon are you still a virgin?
what are hormones?
can two women make a baby?

I trust my mom and you to tell me about this stuff
Myesha confides

because having dinner with my mentee,
once my fourth grader
now turned fifteen,
listening to her
complicated world--

a dead brother
a too old boyfriend
a neighborhood leaving her
anxious and scared

I can still see her
ten year old
little-girl heart
her same smile
her vibrance

These slippery moments
build up a wall of hope
bombs it to rubble--
rebuilds
day after day

xoxoxo