From chaos

brilliant dreams are born

Brilliance

luminously unveiling the path

Swirling chaos

brings fear to those

searching for order

Engulfing chaos,

to those who need tidiness,

swallows the breath

tipping the candle stick onto the floor

Not meaning to concoct panic

chaos requires

acquiescence

Releasing the grip

Going along for the ride

And what a ride

brilliance

As the darkness tumbles

away

leaving only light

setting an array unimagined

Impossible if planned

Thrilling in surrender

Today I was part of a presentation. You would think with my acting background and being a teacher, this would be easy for me. It isn’t. I was never good in the speech part of Speech and Drama in high school. I don’t do improve. So it strikes fear in my heart when I have to give important information in a precise fashion. I speak from passion. I go off topic and say what’s on my mind leaving my audience scratching their heads. Today, for the first time in any speech I’ve given, I didn’t use notes. Just what was glowing from the Smartboard behind me. It was enough. I thank my colleagues who helped me. I had learned over the past six months what I needed and I was able to do the job. 

However, for me, I didn’t tie it up as neatly as I would have liked.  To begin the presentation, I used a symbol I have hanging in my classroom – the I Ching symbol for “Chaos” done by a local calligraphy artist. Underneath she wrote the words: Chaos. From Chaos brilliant dreams are born.  I see chaos in my classroom and hope something brilliant will surface. I didn’t make the connection clear to my audience. I wanted them to know I wasn’t talking about me being brilliant or smart. I was talking about teachers learning to let go and let the chaos of learning light the way for us. So this evening, the poem.