A Poem for Linguistic Justice

I used an egregious expression and my student quickly became my teacher. This poem was the result of my lesson:

Language Quips

by 

Alfred W. Tatum

January 30, 2012

2:43 pm

Language quips and tongue slips

Can’t be easily washed away

By innocence and ignorance

Mental quips and moral slips

Must be challenged

Swiftly and seriously

No lengthy dialogue

Quick rebukes suffice

Language quips and tongue slips

Should be met with

Audacity and veracity

We’re all on the humanities clock

It’s time to check ourselves

Or perish as fools.

Thanks my friend for not understanding

Your silence would have been a form of ruin

For both of us

Mentor Writers - First Paragraphs

Welcome to the UIC Reading Clinic's Spring 2013 Blog

I was inspired by a display of leadership among CPS principals who are impacting more than 40,000 lives in Chicago. They are leaders among the blues - blues that began in the Mississippi Delta and made their way to Chicago. Let the writing begin. 

Blue Light Leadership

by

al tatum

1/15/2013

1:05am

Traveling down dark back Mississippi roads

Juke joint drivin’

Under the bright lights of Chicago’s streets

Where bullets of hatred rain down on me

Not from southern pistols

But from northern dashed hopes

Under city viaducts and school buildings

Where the blues outweigh the spirituals

Blue light schooling

Juke joint learnin’

Damn textbooks done dried up my imagination

Blue light schooling

Juke joint learnin’

New lights a’ coming

Bright lights traveling together

Double and triple-timing

40,000 followers

Black, brown, and white flowers stunted by blue lights

Now growing

Ain’t got the blues no mo’

Got leadership

Blue light leadership

Mississippi roads

Chicago streets

Ain’t afraid no mo’

Got leadership

Blue light leadership