poetry

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance

--e.e. cummings
E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems, 1904-1962


Now usually I am more of a Don Marquis fan but this line... it is perfect. I guess any poet has his/her moments when words become magic in his grasp. For cummings, this was the moment. This whole poem 'Lie Down and Sleep' makes words music for the brief spell of reading.

Perhaps this line struck me because of what I am attempting to do: provide two little boys with a good and positive educational experience (some would accuse me of wrapping them in cotton or bubblewrap...) and in the process I 'learn from one bird (or in this case two!) how to sing':>

Learning moments are everywhere: for example, the other evening at dinner, my youngest son announced 'I am Mexican, after all.' ???? I am sure that is your response so I guess I should back up to the beginnng and let you in on the whole 'windy tale' (ala Hank the Cowdog).

But where to begin? As with so many encounters, this ending came from many beginnings. The most obvious thread to pull is the one called 'Skippy Jon Jones'. SJJ is a siamese 'kitty boy' who thinks he is a chihuahua. (Skippy Jon Jones (Skippyjon Jones))Xander LOVES the books, and they are rather funny, with SJJ as a super hero to the oppressed Chihuahua's of the world. And, of course, as a Chihuahua, SJJ eats beans and mice... Not my pun!

But that is only one thread. I fear that I supplied yet another in this particular weaving. That thread developed when Xander and Jason and I were having a morning discussion about food. Xander informed me that he had made a promise to the Aliens (which Aliens?) that he wouldn't eat meat (this was later amended to 'he wouldn't eat meat for breakfast'). I was explaining the importance of protein in the diet and we began brain storming alternative sources of protein -- peanut butter, cheese, and... of course, beans and rice! Ah ha!

The story then picks up when Xander tells me, at the grocery store, that he wants beans and rice for lunch. Somehow I had forgotten all the BR discussions to this point so I was startled. "Well" I said "Not lunch but we can have it for dinner." He subsided and again, I forgot until... at Tae Kwon Do, he began a discussion with Shannon, mother to Makayla, Cobin and Kyler, about dinner. Of course, Beans and Rice showed up... with a peanut butter and jelly chaser for good measure.

So we had Beans and Rice for dinner. Xander, munching happily away on beans, rice and tortillas, explained to his father that he "LOVES" beans and rice because "I am MEXICAN after all!" His father's face was priceless. (Choke, snort)

And what, you might be wondering, does this story -- silly though it be -- have to do with e.e. cummings' poem? Well, one might well argue that my sons are teaching me, slowly, so slowly, to sing rather than 'to teach a thousand stars how not to dance.' I am learning that, left in peace, my sons learn at a remarkable rate, that they hear and retain far more information than I could ever begin to imagine. I need simply provide a little structure and appropriate materials and they 'learn to sing' with all the joy and abandon that such an undertaking deserves.